Maharashtra phase-II poll: 358 candidates in fray for 19 seats

MUMBAI: Nearly 3.25 crore voters are expected to decide the fate of 358 candidates, including Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, in 19 constituencies during the second phase of Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra on April 17.

Ten constituencies of Vidarbha have already voted in the first phase on April 10.

In the second phase, there are 358 candidates in fray, including 24 women and 201 independents.

There are 3,24,27,558 voters, which include 1,69,54,391 men and 1,53,77,605 women. There are 306 voters in the others category and 95,256 in the service category.

The constituencies that will go to polls are -Hingoli, Nanded, Beed, Parbhani, Osmanabad and Latur in Marathwada, Pune, Baramati, Shirur, Maval, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Hathkanangale in Western Maharashtra, Shirdi, Ahmednagar in North Maharashtra and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg in Konkan.

The generation next of Maharashtra politics - Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Nilesh Rane (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg) - are seeking a second term.

Indian Youth Congress chief Rajiv Satav, who is currently a legislator, is making a debut in electoral politics from Hingoli.

Vishwajit Kadam, who is the state Youth Congress chief and son of Congress veteran Patangrao Kadam, is also making his debut from Pune.

There are 11 constituencies with more than 16 candidates, while at one seat there are more than 32 candidates. Beed constituency has maximum 39 candidates, while Baramati has the lowest nine.

The largest constituency electorate wise is Maval with 19,46,127 voters. The smallest constituency electorate wise is Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (13,63,957).