17.5 pc polling till 11 am in Maharashtra Assembly elections

Altogether 17.5 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first four hours in Maharashtra, after polling for the 288 Assembly seats began at 7 am on Monday, officials said.

Election officials said Magathane in north Mumbai recorded 19.20 per cent polling till 11 am.

Tribal Dahanu in Palghar district recorded 26.31 per cent voting in the first four hours, the officials said.

The percentage is likely to rise considering the long queues outside several polling booths, the official said.

Voting will end at 6 pm.

Prominent personalities who voted include RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, CM Devendra Fadnavis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

Several Bollywood celebrities, including Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene and Lara Dutta, stepped out to vote for the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Other urban areas like Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad reported a moderate response, while the turnout in rural areas was on the higher side, he said.

The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. Nearly 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.

Maharashtra recorded 63.38 per cent turnout in 2014 Assembly elections.