Maharashtra Assembly polls see 66% voter turnout, up from 61.1% in 2019: EC

Polls to 288-member state assembly were held on Wednesday, while votes will be counted on Saturday. "Official figures for each assembly constituency will depend on the count of postal ballots reported

The turnout in Maharashtra assembly polls was 66 per cent as per EVM votes, up from 61.1 per cent in 2019, Election Commission officials said on Thursday.

Polls to the 288-member state assembly were held on Wednesday, while votes will be counted on Saturday. "The official figures for each assembly constituency will depend on the count of postal ballots reported.  The 66 per cent turnout figure refers specifically to the votes cast on electronic voting machines," the chief electoral officer said in a statement. The increase, excluding postal ballots, highlighted the EC's efforts to engage a broader electorate, the statement added.  Kolhapur led with 76.63 per cent, followed by 75.26 per cent in Gadchiroli, which has some Left Wing Extremism affected pockets, while the lowest was in Mumbai island city at 52.07 per cent and 55.95 per cent in the metropolis' suburban district.  More than 68,000 citizens aged over 85 and 12,000 individuals with disabilities cast their votes through home voting. "Additionally, 36,000 voters from essential services used postal voting.  A total of 466,823 postal ballots were issued to voters on election duty, and around 16,000 Electronically Transmittable Postal Ballots (ETPB) were accepted for service voters," it said.  The statement said the EC's second 'special summary survey revision' conducted in August and September added nearly 4 million new voters, with more than half of these registrations coming from the 18-19 age group. Special attention was given to enrolling electors from the third gender, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs).  "To improve the voting experience, efforts were made to rationalise polling stations and reduce voter congestion. This de-clustering initiative affected over 5,800 locations, establishing over 1,100 polling stations in high-rise buildings and housing societies, as well as an additional 200 in slum areas across the state," the EC said.  A total of 288 counting centres have been set up, including one for the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll that was also held on November 20.  "A total of 288 counting observers will oversee each assembly constituency, with two observers assigned to monitor counting in Nanded (bypoll)," it informed.  The high volume of postal ballots has led to the establishment of 1,732 tables for postal ballot counting and 592 tables for ETPBMS scanning to ensure a smooth counting process across all assembly constituencies, the EC said.