Maharashtra: Polling parties dispatched for fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, says Jalgaon District Collector
Jalgaon: With only a few hours remaining until voting begins in Maharashtra, the dispatch of polling parties has started with the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) on Sunday.
The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra will be held on May 13.
Speaking on the preparedness of the elections and the Election Commission of India's initiative to increase voter turnout, Jalgaon District Collector Ayush Prasad said, "There are two parliamentary constituencies in Jalgaon... Strict monitoring is being done through CCTV... Polling parties will reach their booths in the entire district by 6 pm today. The mock polling process will start at 5:30 am tomorrow."
He further said, "Polling teams are being dispatched from 11 locations. The dispatch of polling teams started around 8 am. GPS is installed in all vehicles. Over 540 pieces of information were given by the EC office, which have been taken care of."
"Central and state security forces will be stationed at 90 sensitive booths. Polling will be conducted over 3,900 polling booths from 7 am to 6 pm tomorrow," the official added.
Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh.
In the fourth phase, polling will take place across 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
These Lok Sabha constituencies are Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed.
In the first phase of voting for the general polls, Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, and Chandrapur were in the fray. The voter turnout in this phase stood at 63.71 per cent.
Buldhana, Nanded, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli and Parbhani went to polls in the second phase. The final polling percentage in this phase was 62.71 per cent.
In the third phase on May 7, voting took place across 11 constituencies - Raigad, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, and Hatkanangle. The voter turnout in this phase stood at 63.55 per cent.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.
Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20.
The counting of votes will be held on June 4.
