Mumbai
Polling for 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis in 12 districts of Maharashtra began on a brisk note on Saturday morning, with a voter turnout of 7.80 per cent recorded till 9.30 am.
The Zilla Parishad polls, which are being held under the cloud of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's death in an air crash last month, are being seen as a litmus test for the NCP factions, which are contesting in an alliance in their strongholds in western Maharashtra.
Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, NCP (SP) leaders Jayant Patil and Rohit Pawar were among the early voters as polling commenced at 7.30 am.
Sunetra Pawar cast her vote along with her elder son, Parth Pawar, at a primary school in Katewadi village in Baramati.
She appealed to citizens across the state to actively participate in the crucial democratic process for a brighter future.
The Zilla Parishads of Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, and Latur, as well as the Panchayat Samities under their jurisdiction, are voting to elect their representatives.
Polling will continue till 5.30 pm, while counting of votes will begin at 10 am on February 9, after which the model code of conduct will be lifted.
The elections, originally scheduled for February 5, were postponed following the death of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in an air crash on January 28 and the subsequent declaration of three days of state mourning.
NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar urged citizens to actively participate in the democratic process by exercising their right to vote.
Pawar, in a social media post, said, "By exercising our sacred right of voting, we have paid tribute to Ajitdada's vision. I appeal to everyone to exercise their democratic right and contribute to the national effort of making democracy stronger."
The survival and potential reunification of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions have emerged as central themes of the elections.
Political observers believe the outcome will dictate whether the two factions, now led by the late Ajit Pawar's successors and patriarch Sharad Pawar, will eventually merge or not.
The two factions had set aside their bitter two-year rivalry to contest these local body polls in an informal alliance in Pune, Satara, Solapur and Sangli, where candidates from both sides are contesting under the original 'clock' symbol.
While grassroots workers have hailed the local-level coordination as a "tribute to Ajit Dada," the top leadership remains cautious.
NCP veteran Praful Patel recently downplayed merger talks, labelling the Zilla Parishad alliance as a purely "tactical electoral consensus". However, NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil claimed that a formal merger was "Ajit Pawar's last wish," which was originally slated to be announced on February 12.
A total of 2,624 candidates are contesting for 731 Zilla Parishad seats, of which 369 are reserved for women, 83 for Scheduled Castes, 25 for Scheduled Tribes and 191 for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
Similarly, 4,814 candidates are contesting for 1,462 Panchayat Samiti seats, of which 731 are reserved for women, 166 for Scheduled Castes, 38 for Scheduled Tribes and 342 for the Other Backward Classes.
The electorate includes 1,06,33,269 men, 1,01,86,965 women and 468 voters from other categories. A total of 25,471 polling stations have been set up, with around 1.28 lakh personnel deployed for election duty, including 125 returning officers and 125 assistant returning officers.
The Election Commission has arranged sufficient electronic voting machines (EVMs), including 51,537 control units and 1,10,329 ballot units, and officials have been trained for their use.
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Voters will cast two votes — one for the Zilla Parishad constituency and another for the Panchayat Samiti electoral division. White ballot papers will be used for Zilla Parishad elections, while pink ballot papers will be used for Panchayat Samiti elections.
