Second phase of LS polls: Campaign ends in Maharashtra

Campaign for the second phase of polling in Maharashtra where nearly 3.25 crore voters will be sealing the fate of 358 candidates including stalwarts like Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and BJP leader Gopinath Munde, came to an end today.

About 3,24,27,558 electorate in 19 constituencies of western Maharashtra, Marathwada, Konkan will cast their votes in the state on April 17.

Ten constituencies of Vidarbha went to polls in the first phase on April 10 and more than 60 per cent electorate have cast their votes.

In the second phase, there are 358 candidates in fray, including 24 women and 201 independents.

The voters in the second phase include 1,69,54,391 men and 1,53,77,605 women. There are 306 voters in the others category and 95,256 in the service category.

The constituencies which will go to polls are - Hingoli, Nanded, Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad and Latur in Marathwada, Pune, Baramati, Shirur, Maval, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Hathkanangale in Western Maharashtra, Shirdi, Ahmednagar in North Maharashtra and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in Konkan.

The generation next of Maharashtra politics - Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Nilesh Rane (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg) - are seeking a second term.

Indian Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav, who is currently a legislator, is seeking to enter Lok Sabha from Hingoli.

Vishwajit Kadam, who is the state Youth Congress chief and son of Congress veteran Patangrao Kadam, is also making foray from Pune.

Beed constituency has maximum 39 candidates, while Baramati has the lowest nine.

The largest constituency electorate wise is Maval with 19,46,127 voters. The smallest constituency electorate wise is Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (13,63,957).