Assembly elections: 8.73 pc polling in Haryana, 5.46 pc voter turnout in Maharashtra till 9 am

A voter turnout of 8.73 per cent and 5.46 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Monday in Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections respectively, according to the Election Commission (EC).

Five per cent polling was reported in Mumbai city district's 10 assembly constituencies, EC said.

Polling for 90 seats of Haryana and 288 constituencies of Maharashtra began at 7 am today and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

The electoral fate of over 4400 candidates -- 1,169 in Haryana and 3,237 in Maharashtra will be sealed in EVMs by the voters who will exercise their democratic franchise in the assembly elections.

In Haryana, 19,578 polling stations have been set up whereas there are 96,661 polling booths in Maharashtra for citizens to cast their votes. The assembly polls will witness a multi-cornered contest among BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the recently-formed Jannayak Janata Party (JJP).

In Maharashtra, BJP is contesting 150 seats while its ally Shiv Sena has fielded 124 candidates. The remaining seats have been left for smaller allies. On the other hand, Congress is contesting the polls in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Counting of votes in both Haryana and Maharashtra assembly polls will take place on October 24.