Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 45.53 per cent till 3 pm on Wednesday in the elections to the 288-member state legislative assembly, election officials said.

In the bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency held simultaneously, the voter turnout till 3 pm was 41.58 per cent, they said.

Polling began at 7 am in the state, where the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance is vying to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine is hoping for a strong comeback. Voting will continue till 6 pm.

There are a total of 1,00,186 polling booths in Maharashtra this time, compared to 96,654 booths in the 2019 assembly elections, the officials said.

Gadchiroli tops the list of districts with 62.99 per cent turnout. Aheri assembly seat in the district saw 66.27per cent voting, while Gadchiroli constituency recorded 62.43 per cent voting. Armori saw 60.50 per cent polling.

Mumbai city district and Mumbai suburban district recorded 40.89 per cent and 39.34 per cent voting respectively.

The Colaba assembly segment in the megapolis registered 33.44 per cent polling, Mahim 45.56 per cent and Worli 39.11 per cent. Shivadi recorded 41.76 percent and Malabar Hill 42.55 per cent.

In Mumbai suburban, Bhandup polled 48.82 per cent votes, Dahisar 41.91 percent and Bandra East 39.49 per cent, they said.

In Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency in Thane, the voter turnout was 44.60 per cent, while the overall percentage of Thane district was 38.94 per cent.

The Nagpur South-West constituency, from where Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis is in the fray, the voter turnout was 41.76 per cent till 3 pm, the officials said. Nagpur district recorded 44.45 per cent turnout.

In Baramati constituency in Pune district, from where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar is fighting against his nephew Yugendra Pawar, the poll percentage was 43.57 per cent, they officials said, adding that Pune district recorded 41.70 per cent voter turnout.

Nashik district recorded 46.18 per cent turnout till 3 pm.

Over 9.7 crore voters will be choosing from among the 4,136 candidates in the fray, officials said.

In the Mahayuti alliance, the BJP is contesting 149 seats, Shiv Sena is in the fray in 81 seats, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP has fielded candidates in 59 constituencies.

In the opposition's MVA combine, the Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and NCP (SP) has put up 86 candidates.

Smaller parties, including the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM), are also contesting, with BSP fielding 237 candidates and AIMIM 17 in the 288-member Lower House.

Bypoll to the Nanded Lok Sabha seat was necessitated following the demise of Congress MP Vasantrao Chavan soon after the elections earlier this year.

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