Mumbai: Trends from the Election Commission website on Wednesday indicated a sharp difference in voting patterns between urban and rural areas, but an overall improvement in both segments.
Several districts in Vidarbha – which included the remote Naxal-affected belt – logged polling percentages in the range of 65-73%, much higher than the state average of 65.1%. In comparison, the urban clusters of MMR, Pune, Nagpur and Thane were around 54-61%, all showing an improvement from the percentages recorded in the 2019 assembly polls, but still below the state’s average.
The island city of Mumbai which stretches from Colaba to Mahim recorded the lowest turnout among all districts at 51.8%. But the overall average for Mumbai, which is notorious for voter apathy, was higher at 54.7% compared to 50.5% in the previous assembly poll. Similarly, Pune was at 61.05% as opposed to 58% in 2019 and Nagpur at 60.49%, much higher than the 58.1% in the last elections. Among large urban clusters, the lowest polling was in Thane at 56.1%.
Among other rural areas, at least four districts in the drought-prone Marathwada region, three in arid north Maharashtra and three in the sugarcane belt of western Maharashtra recorded higher polling in the range of 64-72%.
Districts with the highest voting percentages were tribal-dominated Gadchiroli (73.7%) in Vidarbha and Kolhapur (76.25%) in western Maharashtra. The waning influence of Maoists in Gadchiroli was evident with not a bullet fired or a grenade lobbed on voters or security forces, a first in 18 years. Gadchiroli has three ST seats, of which two have the BJP pitted against the Congress and one has the rival NCPs competing. Western Maharashtra has more Congress candidates in the fray.
In Marathwada, it is Jalna – which is the epicentre of the Manoj Jarange-led Maratha agitation – and Hingoli which recorded the highest voting at 71-72%. In Jalna, the BJP has taken on NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) in the maximum seats.
In the north Maharashtra district of Ahmednagar, where polling was 72%, at least four seats have the two NCP factions pitted against each other. And in the coastal belt, Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg saw polling in the range of 65-68%.