Pune: Even with high voter registration and aggressive voter information campaigns, the nonchalance of urban voters could not be overpowered; this coupled by election fervor in the Baramati assembly constituency led to a turnout of 59.5%. This is around two percentage points lower than that recorded for 2019 (61.8%) and almost similar to that of the 2014 poll at 58.8%.
Excluding Indapur, turnout in other five seats was lesser than that of the 2019 elections.
The data was updated on Wednesday after adding the postal votes, said Baramati Election officer Kavita Dwivedi. “The percentage of polling stood at 56.07% as per our records on voting day,” she added.
Kadawathra in two key parliamentary seats of low voters’ turn-out is Mahayutti’s and Purandar a thorn in the side of them. This group has heavily relied on this support base for its own political interests.
According to the Election Commission data released yesterday, Purandhar had 53.9 % turnout while Kadwathra had 51.5 %.
In Purandhar, even Mahayutti expects an increase in voter participation with former Shiv Sena MP Vijay Shivtare who commands a large following allegedly calling for active participation following a political drama campaign activities.
District sources from Purandhar have indicated that the intense campaign by both parties will result into more votes casted today. A local siv sena official also stated: ‘Shiv Sena party workers under the leadership of Shivtare have joined hands with NCP in launching a vigorous campaign in Purandar’. The results may be lower than expected; however they will favour Mahayutth alliance.
Suresh Memane an activist living in purandhar district commented that delayed decision making on puranadar airport would hurt their chances of winning.
As per leaders from Mahayuti, voting results have not met their expectations for both constituencies. “We need more votes to win because smaller problems such as missing names on the voters’ list have brought down our ratio.” Rupa Chakankar (NCP-Women’s Wing Head-Ajit Pawar Faction)has argued that it does not compromise our winning chances but we may lose some edge,” she explained
“NCP (SCP) workers actively took part in electioneering. They penetrated the major pockets of supporters. Voters are displeased and annoyed due to betrayers in politics. So, they voted for us out of frustration”, said Kadak Sachin Dodke, NCP(Scp) Officer of Wasla Constituency.
One of the most watched polls in India is the Baramati battle where Supriya Sule, daughter of sitting MP and NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar is contesting against her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar from National Communist Party (NCP). The Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP is one of Mahayuti’s partners.
