Maha LS polls: Sharad Pawar, Chhatrapatis, Riteish-Genelia Deshmukh vote

Mumbai, May 7 (IANS) Voting started briskly for 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra with members of royal families, top political leaders, Bollywood stars and other celebs trooping out for the ‘festival of democracy’, in different parts of the state, here on Tuesday.

The prominent personalities, who came out and voted, were Congress Kolhapur candidate Chhatrapati Shrimant Shahu Maharaj and the royal family, Bharatiya Janata Party’s Satara nominee Chhatrapati Udayanraje Bhonsle and his royal clan, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha, party working president Supriya Sule, who is the Baramati LS contender for the fourth time, and her daughter, Revati, a first-time voter.

Voting in Latur were the Deshmukh clan comprising Bollywood actor-couple Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh, legislators Amit Deshmukh and Dhiraj Deshmukh, their mother Vaishali Vilasrao Deshmukh.

BJP’s candidate in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Union Minister Narayan Rane, his family comprising his wife and their children MLA Nitesh Rane and ex-MP Nilesh Rane trooped out to vote in Kankavali where he is trying to dislodge Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Vinayak Raut attempting a hat-trick here.

Earlier, Ajit Pawar arrived and voted at a polling station in Kategaon, along with his wife Sunetra Pawar who is the NCP candidate from Baramati, in the high-stakes fight with her ‘nanad’, NCP(SP) Working President Supriya Sule. However, Ajit Pawar has said that there is no place for emotions and the present elections are for the agenda of development and the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the past 10 years.

The voting for Phase 3 started briskly and peacefully with great enthusiasm among the voters, especially the first-timers, in Baramati, Dharashiv, Hatkanangle, Kolhapur, Latur, Madha, Raigad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Sangli, Satara and Solapur, with a total of 258 candidates of all major parties in the fray.

In a bid to boost the turnout in view of the severe heatwave conditions with the mercury hovering around 40 degrees Celsius, all parties and candidates have appealed to the voters to step out in large numbers in the morning hours and cast their votes before the temperatures start soaring.