Preparations for third phase of Lok Sabha elections...
Preparations for third phase of lok sabha elections...Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chokkaligam said that the machinery is fully ready for the third phase of lok sabha elections to be held on May 7 on 11 seats in Maharashtra. He said that more than 2.9 crore people are eligible to vote for 258 candidates in the third phase, for which 23,036 polling stations have been created.The CEO said that since the implementation of the code of conduct in March, a total of Rs 530.69 crore in cash, drugs, liquor, expensive items etc. have been seized. He said that this included cash worth Rs 49.95 crore, liquor worth Rs 36.80 crore, drugs worth Rs 220.65 crore and expensive items worth Rs 129.89 crore. The 11 seats where voting will be held on May 7 include Raigarh, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur and Hatkanangle.Prominent candidates include supriya sule and her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar from Baramati, Congress's royal scion Shahu Chhatrapati from Kolhapur and BJP's udayanraje bhosale from Satara and Union minister Narayan Rane from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.The official said that there are a total of 1,07,64,741 male voters, 1,02,26,946 female voters and 929 third gender voters. In the fourth phase on May 13, a total of 2.28 crore voters will decide the fate of 298 candidates in Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi and Beed. Prominent candidates for the fourth phase include minister of State for Railways Raosaheb Danve in Jalna and BJP's Pankaja Munde in Beed.