Police officials giving briefing to Police officers for tomorrow’s counting day bandobast near counting centre at Wilson College for Malabar Hill Constituency in Mumbai | File Photo
Mumbai: Counting for 6.4 crore votes polled in the 288 state assembly constituencies will be held on Saturday which is being seen as one of the most intensely fought electoral battles by the two major political alliances – the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
The office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the high volume of postal ballots has led to the establishment of 1,732 tables for postal ballot counting and 592 tables for electronically transmitted postal ballot system (ETPBS) to ensure a smooth counting process across all assembly constituencies, the official said.
Election Commission officials giving training to Election Commission counting agents for tomorrow’s vote counting at Da Silva High School, Dadar in Mumbai | File Photo
The Mumbai Police has issued an order prohibiting the assembly of people within a 300-meter radius of all 36 counting centres in the city. No person, other than officials involved in the election process or public servants on duty, is allowed to loiter or form any assembly within the restricted 300-meter radius of any counting centre, a police official stated.
The order is effective from 6.00 am on November 21 until midnight on November 24.
Of the 288 assembly seats, the BJP, the alliance partner in Mahayuti, has contested 149 seats with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena contesting 81 and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP 59. From the MVA, the Congress has fielded 101 candidates followed by Shiv Sena(UBT) 95 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP 86.
The Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded the highest number of candidates, 237. In total 4,136 candidates are in the fray. There are 2,086 independents in fray, of whom many are the party rebels.
A women police officer keep watch on a screen which was connected with CCTV installed in counting centre at Da Silva High School in Mumbai | File Photo
The term of the state assembly ends by midnight on November 26, which gives just two days to the political parties to stake a claim to form the government.
Along with the assembly constituencies, the counting of votes will also be held for the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, which saw 67.81% voter turnout. Compared to all the 36 districts, Kolhapur has registered the highest percentage of voting with 76.63%. The district of Gadchiroli, known for the presence of Naxals, from Vidarbha stood second with 75.26%.
Interestingly, the district of Jalna has seen 72.67%, the third highest turnout of the voters which also includes the village Antarwali Sarati where Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange has undertaken several agitations.
The dubious distinction of the lowest turnout has gone in favour of Mumbai island city again with 52.07%. The suburban district has registered 55.95% polling.
