'If you don't vote, you have no right to complain later': Gulzar to senior citizens

Lyricist and poet Gulzar on Monday made a special appeal to senior citizens in Maharashtra to exercise their franchise.

The Oscar-winning lyricist lauded the younger generation by calling them "responsible" and urged the senior citizens to cast their votes so that they don't have any reason to complain later.

"Even during the Aarey protest I saw younger generation arriving to support the cause, I think they are more to the point and responsible. That's why my appeal is to senior citizens. If you don't cast your vote, you have no right to complain later," said the veteran artist.

Other than Gulzar, many Bollywood celebrities including Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Lara Dutta, Riteish Deshmukh, Genelia D'Souza, Ravi Kishan and Padmini Kolhapure also cast their votes.

Voting for 288 constituencies in Maharashtra began at 7 am today and will continue till 6 pm. Counting of votes will take place on October 24.

In Mumbai, 9,894 polling stations have been set up at 1,537 locations. 36 out of 288 seats are from the city where 334 candidates are in the fray. The city has 97.72 lakh registered voters.

Of the 288 seats, BJP is contesting on 164; this includes candidates of smaller allies contesting on its lotus symbol, while its key ally Shiv Sena has fielded 126 candidates in the state.

On the other hand, Congress has candidates in 147 constituencies and NCP is contesting 121 seats.