8 Maharashtra seats log 31.77% turnout till 1 pm

A voter turnout of 31.77 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Friday in eight constituencies of Maharashtra in the second phase of the Lok Sabha polls, officials said.

Voting started at 7 am in Akola, Amravati, Buldhana, Wardha and Yavatmal-Washim seats in the west Vidarbha region and Hingoli, Nanded and Parbhani constituencies in Marathwada, and will end at 6 pm, they said.

As per the election office, till 1 pm, Parbhani recorded 33.88 per cent voting, Nanded 32.93, Wardha 32.32, Akola 32.25, Yavatmal-Washim 31.47, Amravati 31.40, Hingoli 30.46 and Buldhana 29.07.

Former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who recently switched over from the Congress to the BJP, voted along with his family members in the initial hours in the Nanded constituency.

As many as 1.49 crore voters, including 77,21,374 men, 72,04,106 women, and 432 persons from the third gender category, are eligible to cast their ballot across 16,589 polling centres to seal the fate of 204 candidates in the fray in the eight seats.

There are a total of 204 candidates in the fray, of whom 21 are in Buldhana, 15 in Akola, 37 in Amravati, 24 in Wardha, 17 in Yavatmal-Washim, 33 in Hingoli, 23 in Nanded, and 34 contestants in Parbhani seat.