Maharashtra polls: Sachin Tendulkar casts ballot, bats for youth to vote

Former India batsman Sachin Tendulkar, his wife Anjali and son Arjun, cast their votes in Bandra (West) here on Monday afternoon.

The master blaster urged young people to come out of their homes and cast their votes.

"I think we can change our tomorrow and whoever you feel like supporting, whoever you believe in, you should go and vote that is my request to all the youngsters. I think whoever is eligible to vote must come and vote," Tendulkar told reporters after casting his vote.

The cricketer lauded the 'commitment' of senior citizens.

"This morning I was reading a newspaper and I read something which was not so common and that talks about commitment. There were three senior citizens who were mentioned in the article, one senior-citizen was 94-year-old, who was on a wheelchair but he was going to make an effort to come and vote," Tendulkar said.

"The other senior-citizen was 100-year-old and he is also going to come and the lady was 106-year-old. So, they are all making an effort to come and vote," he added.

The Master Blaster also appealed through Twitter and asked people to turn out in large numbers to vote.

"Happy to have voted & fulfilled my responsibility. Let's turn out in large numbers to vote & be part of a vibrant democracy. #MaharashtraAssemblyPolls," Tendulkar tweeted.

Voting for 288 constituencies in Maharashtra began at 7 am today and will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

The electoral fate of 3237 candidates in the state will be sealed in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) by the voters who will exercise their franchise in the assembly elections.

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.