31.99 per cent voters exercise their franchise till 1 PM

MUMBAI: The average voter turnout in the 288 constituencies of Maharashtra, where polling is going on, was 31.99 per cent till 1 PM.

The highest voter turnout of 58.32 per cent was witnessed in Radhanagri constituency of Kolhapur district, while the lowest 13.61 per cent was in Ramtek seat of Nagpur district, till 1 PM, as per the statistics provided by the state electoral office.

About 8.35 crore voters will cast their votes while a total of 4,119 candidates are in the fray.

Prominent candidates who are in the fray are former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, former Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, former ministers R R Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal of NCP, BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, Eknath Khadse, Vinod Tawde and Pankaja Munde, Shiv Sena leaders Subhash Desai, Suresh Jain and Deepak Kesarkar, former ministers Patangrao Kadam, Shivajirao Moghe and Rajendra Darda of Congress and Bala Nandgaonkar of MNS.

Of the 4,119 candidates in the electoral fray, 3843 are men and 276 women. Of the 288 constituencies, including 36 constituencies in Mumbai, 234 are general, 29 reserved for Scheduled Castes and 25 for Scheduled Tribes.

Nanded South has the maximum 39 candidates, while Akole and Guhagar have the minimum number at five candidates each.