Maharashtra gears up for Phase 1, voting to be held on April 19

The first phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 will be held on April 19More than 95 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 in Maharashtra covering five constituencies including some Naxalhit areas where campaigning ended on Wednesday eveningPolling will be held in the constituencies of Nagpur Ramtek BhandaraGondia Chandrapur and GadchiroliChimur all located in the easternmost parts of the stateIn Nagpur a direct fight is on the cards between Union Minister Nitin Gadkari of the BJP and Congress candidate Vikas Thakre The constituency which houses the RSS headquarters has a total of 2218259 voters 1110 840 males 1107197 females and 222 transgender personsIn Chandrapur BJP candidate and Maharashtra minister Sudhir Mungantiwar is facing Congress nominee Pratibha Dhanorkar wife of late Suresh Dhanorkar who was the lone Congress MP elected to the Lok Sabha from Maharashtra in 2019 from the seat The Congress MP died last year Chandrapur has a total of 1836314 voters including 945026 males and 891240 femalesAlso Read Lok Sabha elections 2024 Opinion polls predict a big zero for Ajit PawarIn BhandaraGondia the BJP has fielded sitting MP Sunil Mendhe who is pitted against Congress candidate Dr Prashant Patole BhandaraGondia has a total of 1875106 voters 936041 males 939056 females and 12 transgendersTwotime MP of BJP Ashok Nete is contesting against Congress nominee Dr Namdev Kirsan in GadchiroliChimur In the 2019 elections Nete defeated Congress candidate Dr Namdev Usendi The constituency has 1612930 voters 811836 males 801082 females and 12 transgendersIn Ramtek the fight is between Shyamkumar Barwe of the Congress and Eknath Shindeled Shiv Senas candidate Raju Parwe The constituency has a total of 2045717 voters 1043266 males 1002396 females and 55 transgendersA statement by the state electoral office said five assembly segments spread across two LS seats will vote between 7 am and 3 pm unlike other areas where voters can exercise their franchise until 6 pm reported PTIThere are 9554667 voters in the five Lok Sabha constituencies where voting will take place on Friday April 19 Of these 4828142 are male 4726178 female and 347 transgenders voters said the statement reported PTIThe assembly segments of Amgaon Armori Gadchiroli and Aheri GadchiroliChimur Lok Sabha constituency and Arjune Morgaon BhandaraGondia LS seat will have voting between 7 am and 3 pm This decision has been taken because most of the voting booths in these segments are located in remote locations and the region is known for Naxalite activities a poll official told PTIGadchiroliChimur where some parts are affected by Naxal insurgency is considered the largest parliamentary constituency in the state chiefly because its remote villages are separated by vast dense forest regionsThis Lok Sabha constituency consists of the Amgaon assembly segment from Gondia district Armori Gadchiroli and Aheri segments from Gadchiroli district and Bramhapuri and Chimur segments from Chandrapur districtLeader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar is the Congress MLA from BramhapuriWith inputs from PTI