Peaceful voting underway in Maharashtra's 14 LS seats

Voting continued on a peaceful note for 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra here on Tuesday morning.

The fate of several political stalwarts, scions, royals and rebels, including Shiv Sena Union Minister Anant Geete, state BJP President Raosaheb Danve-Patil and big political clans, will be decided by voters in: Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Raigad, Pune, Baramati, Ahmednagar, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hathkanangale constituencies.

The main contests are between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena and opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party, besides the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) Dalit-Muslim front comprising Prakash Ambedkar's Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh and Owaisi brothers' All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, and some local/regional parties.

Among the early voters were Danve-Patil, NCP senior leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar with his family, Bollywood actor Amol Palekar and his family and others.

Snaky queues of voters were witnessed outside polling stations in Pune, Satara, Ahmednagar, Sangli, Kolhapur, Sindhudurg and other places with enthusiastic first timers and cool senior citizens lined up to exercise their franchise.

There are several key contests among these 14 seats, nine of which are held by the BJP-Shiv Sena, while four are with the NCP, and one with the Shetkari Swabhimani Sanghatana (SSS).

--IANS

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