Polling for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections began at 0700 hrs on Thursday in Maharashtra’s seven constituencies- Nagpur, Wardha, Ramtek, Bhandara-Gondiya, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli- Chimur and Yavatmal Washim.
Polling began at peaceful note and the voters were seen queuing up at the polling booths to participate in the dance of democracy since morning.
Till 0900 hrs, an estimated 11 per cent votes were registered.
For the first time, Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) are being used in the general elections in the country. The voters after pressing the button before the chosen candidate would get a few seconds to confirm that vote was recorded properly by seeing the display on the VVPAT machine.
A total of 21,26,574 electorate, including 10,80,574 males and 10,45,934 females, are expected to elect their Member of Parliament from Nagpur constituency.
While Ramtek has 18,97,623 voters, including 9,85,539 males and 9,12,061 females, Wardha has 17,43,206 voters including 8,94,483 males and 19 third gender.
Chandrapur has 18,59,721 voters, including 9,04,671 females and 20 third gender,
Bhandara-Gondia has 8,25,255 voters, including 4,09,624 males and 4,15,629 females, Gadchiroli-Chimur 15,69,479 voters, including 7,94,774 males and 7,73,517 females.
Yavatmal-Washim has 19,14,785, voters including 9,03,706 males and 9,22,047 females.
Nearly 1.35 crore electorate would seal fate of 116 candidates at seven constituencies in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra in the first phase.
Taking scorching and rising heat into account, hordes of voters have reached at various polling booths.
However, it has led to chaotic situation at many polling booths where voters were disappointed as most of their names were missing from the list.
There are no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere.
