The state of Maharashtra is heading for polls on October 21. The election will be held for 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra which also coincides with voting for the Assembly Elections in Haryana. The counting of votes and declaration of results for both the states will happen on October 24.
Counting for the Maharashtra assembly elections will commence at 8 am. Polling for all 288 constituencies took place on October 21.
Most of the exit polls have predicted a BJP-Shiv Sena alliance win in the 13th Maharashtra assembly elections.
The voting for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra was held on October 21 which also coincided with voting for the Assembly Elections in Haryana.
A voter turnout of 60.46% was recorded in Maharashtra. Total voters in Maharashtra are 8,98,39,600 - 4,28,43,635 women and 4,68,75,750 men - who were eligible to cast their votes on October 21 to elect 288 new members of the new assembly.
There are a total of 3237 candidates, including 235 women, in the fray.
The BJP is contesting the state polls in an alliance - Mahayuti - with Shiv Sena and some other smaller allies. The BJP has fielded candidates on 150 seats, Sena is contesting 124 seats while 14 seats have gone to smaller allies including RPI-A.
As for Shiv Sena, this is the first time that a member of the Thackeray family is contesting an election. Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray, son of Uddhav Thackeray, is contesting from Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai.
The ruling alliance's main adversary is "maha-aghadi", led by the Congress and the NCP. The Congress has fielded 147 candidates and the ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) 121.
Here are some of the key candidates for in the elections:
Rohit Pawar
Rohit is the grandson of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar's elder brother Appasaheb Pawar. He is contesting the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections from the Karjat Jamkhed segment of Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency, which has been a BJP stronghold for 25 years.
Rohit is pitted against BJP leader and incumbent MLA Ram Shinde, who is also the Water Conversation Minister.
In 2017, Rohit contested the Zila Parishad elections from the Pawar hometown of Baramati and won.
Maharashtra goes to polls on October 21.
Ashok Chavan
Ashok Chavan is a Congress leader who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from December 2008 to November 2009. He had to resign in the wake of the Adarsh Housing Society Scam.
He also served as Minister for Cultural Affairs, Industries, Mines and Protocol in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government. He will be contesting from the Bhokar constituency in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections. Bhokar is part of the Nanded district in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra.
Chavan will lock horns against BJP candidate Bapusaheb Gorthekar.
In 2004, Chavan won this seat by a huge margin. In 2014, his wife, Ameeta Chavan contested and won from the constituency defeating Dr. Madhavrao Bhujangrao Kinhalkar of BJP.
Maharashtra goes to polls on October 21. Voting for the 288-seat assembly will be held in a single phase and the counting is scheduled for October 24.
Prithviraj Chavan
Prithviraj Chavan is a Congress member who served as the 22nd Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2010 to 2014. He replaced Ashok Chavan after the latter was forced to resign for his alleged involvement in the Adarsh Housing Society Scam.
Previously, he was a member of the Rajya Sabha and served as the minister of state in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) during the Manmohan Singh government.
Chavan has won the Lok Sabha Elections from Karad constituency thrice in 1991, 1996, and 1999. He, however, lost the seat in 1999 to NCP's Shriniwas Patil.
He will contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections from Karad South constituency. He is also the incumbent MLA from the constituency which is considered a Congress stronghold since the 1960s.
Karad South will see a contest between Congress' Prithviraj Chavan, BJP’s Atul Bhosle and Independent candidate Udaysinh Undalkar-Patil, son of Vilasrao Undalkar-Patil, who was seven-time MLA from the seat.
Dhiraj Deshmukh
Dhiraj is the son of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Late Vilasrao Deshmukh and brother of the Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh. He will make his electoral debut on a Congress ticket in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly Elections that are scheduled to take place on October 21.
He will contest from the Latur Rural constituency. Dhiraj's brother, Amit Deshmukh is the sitting Congress MLA from the neighboring constituency Latur City and is seeking a third term this time.
Dhiraj will fight against BJP's Shailesh Govindkumar Lahoti.
Maharashtra goes to polls on October 21. Voting for the 288-seat assembly will be held in a single phase and the counting is scheduled for October 24.
Girish Dattatraya Mahajan
Girish Mahajan is a BJP MLA from the Jamner constituency of Maharashtra Assembly. He is currently the Cabinet Minister for Water Resources & Medical education in the current state government of Devendra Fadnavis.
Since the 1994 Assembly polls, Mahajan has been winning the Jamner seat, making the Assembly constituency a BJP stronghold. He is contesting for the sixth consecutive term.
He recently attracted controversy for his 'cheerful selfie videos' while undertaking an inspection of floods in the state. Mahajan will contest against NCP's Sanjay Bhaskarrao Garud.
Sudhir Mungantiwar
Sudhir is a BJP legislator who is serving as the Cabinet Minister of Finance & Planning and Forests departments in the Government of Maharashtra since 2014. Previously, he was the Maharashtra State President for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2010 to 2013 replacing Nitin Gadkari, who became the party's national president in 2010. He was also the Minister of Tourism and Consumer Protection in the Government of Maharashtra from 1995 to 19
Mungatiwar will contest the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections from the Ballarpur constituency. He is a two time MLA from the seat and looking for a third consecutive term.
He will contest against Congress' Dr. Vishwas Anandrao Zade.
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