Voting for Kasba peth, Chinchwad by-poll in Maharashtra underway; key things to know

The voting for the Kasba and Chinchwad Assembly by-polls started at 7 AM today (February 26).

The bypolls were necessitated due to the death of BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap from Kasba and Chinchwad, respectively.

In Kasba, there is a direct fight between BJP's Hemant Rasane and Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar. The Congress candidate is supported by the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT).

On the other hand, Chinchwad will witness a fight between BJP’s Ashwini Jagtap and NCP’s Nana Kate.

There are 2,75,428 registered voters in Kasba constituency, while Chinchwad constituency has 5,68,954 registered voters.

A total of 270 polling stations have been set up at Kasba peth, while 510 polling stations have been set up in Chinchwad. "We have identified polling stations, which are 50 per cent of total election centres, for web casting to ensure the process happening smoothly without any untoward incidents," said Pune district collector Rajesh Deshmukh.

In a related development, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday (February 25) rejected claims that the BJP was distributing money to win Kasba bypoll.

The voting in both the constituencies will end at 6 PM. The counting of the votes will take place on March 2.