LS polls: 61.30% turnout in third phase

MUMBAI: The third phase of elections for the 14 constituencies in Maharashtra saw a voter turnout of at least 61.30% till 6pm. The voter turnout for these seats in 2014 was 62.88%.

As per the provisional figures made available by the election office, the highest voting was reported from Kolhapur at 69% which in 2014 recorded 71.72% voter turnout. The lowest turnout has been recorded in Pune which recorded 53% which was 54.14% 2014.

These figures are bound to rise as voting was still underway in a few seats.

All these 14 constituencies had a total of 2.57 crore of which 1.33 crore were males and 1.24 were females. A total of 28,691 polling booths were set up and 1.54 lakh staff were engaged in the polling exercise.

Additional chief election officer Dilip Shinde said that in one polling booth in Raver constituency, a voter complained to the presiding officer that while he was pressing button for a party, the vote was going to another party. "After the complaint, the presiding officer cast an extra vote in the presence of everyone to verify the complaint, but nothing of that sort was found," said Shinde.

"After this complaint was found to be false, a police complaint has been filed against him for misleading the election staff," said Shinde. The person has been identified as Amol Survade. The incident occurred at the railway north colony polling booth, Bhusawal.

In yet another case of a person violating the secrecy of the exercise, a case has been registered against an unidentified person for showing who he voted on an app--Tiktok.

Shinde said that a total of 610 VVPATs, 334 ballot units and 229 control units malfunctioned during voting and were replaced in 15-20 minutes, said officials.