Over 59%of the electorate turned out to cast their votes in the third phase of the 17th general elections in Maharashtra on Tuesday in which 14 Lok Sabha seats were up for grabs in three regions — Konkan, and the central and western parts of the state.

Among the 279 candidates in the fray were some big names including Union minister Anant Geete, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule, former state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare and state Bharatiya Janata Party chief Raosaheb Danve.

Polling was held peacefully with no violence reported. Complaints of malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) came in from a few places in Aurangabad and Kolhapur, which caused temporary disruption of voting until the faulty machines were replaced.

In Aurangabad, district collector Uday Chaudhari ordered a case to be filed against unknown persons for uploading a video of a person was casting his vote, on the TikTok app.

Sule, daughter of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, is defending her home turf — Baramati, known as the seat of the Pawar family. She is facing a tough challenge from Kanchan Kul of the BJP. Kul is the wife of Rahul Kul, the Rashtriya Samaj Paksha MLA from Daund assembly constituency. The Madha seat too is a prestige fight for the NCP chief.

With the conclusion of the third phase, voters from 31 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra have exercised their vote. So far, polling has been held in 17 seats in the first two phases of the Lok Sabha elections. The remaining 17 seats will go to polls on April 29.

Experts expect mixed results in the state, where the BJP and Shiv Sena won 40 out of the 48 seats in 2014.

First Published: Apr 23, 2019 23:09 IST