All parties want Muslim votes but can't find candidates from community: Owaisi

All parties in Maharashtra want Muslim votes in the Lok Sabha polls but have not fielded candidates from the community All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said on Monday amid ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 reported news agency PTIAddressing a Lok Sabha elections 2024 rally in Amkhas Maidan Owaisi also said parties have come together to ensure the defeat of his Aurangabad MP Imtiaz JaleelPolitical parties are seeking votes of Muslims but could not find candidates from the community for any of the 48 seats in Maharashtra They are not bothered about results elsewhere but two Shiv Sena two NCPs and half Congress are here to defeat Jaleel he claimed reported PTICriticising Shiv Sena UBT candidate Chandrakant Khaire the AIMIM chief said the former used to call himself a Hindutva leader but arrived at the Idgah here after realising the importance of Muslim votersThose whose politics was earlier based on khan ya baan Muslims and Hindus are now talking about namaz he assertedDubbing Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray as newly secular Owaisi said the former chief minister must clear his stand about Babri Masjid demolition and say whether it was a sin or notMeanwhile a voter turnout of 3155 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in 11 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra where polling is underway in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 on Tuesday election authorities said reported PTIAs per data shared by the authorities Latur registered 3271 per cent polling Sangli 2965 per cent Baramati 2755 per cent Hathkanangale 3617 per cent Kolhapur 3842 per cent Madha 2661 per cent Osmanabad 3054 per cent Raigad 3134 per cent RatnagiriSindhudurg 3391 per cent Satara 3278 per cent and Solapur 2932 per cent reported PTIDeputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar his wife Sunetra Pawar the NCP candidate from Baramati and his mother Asha Pawar were among the early votersThey cast their votes at a polling booth in the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Pune district where Sunetra is pitted against her sisterinlaw Supriya Sule the sitting MP from BaramatiNCP SP head Sharad Pawar his wife Pratibha Pawar daughter Supriya Sule and her family MLA Rohit Pawar and his family also voted in BaramatiActorcouple Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia Deshmukh cast their votes in Latur while Union minister Narayan Rane voted in SindhudurgRitesh Deshmukh is the son of Congress leader and former state chief minister late Vilasrao DeshmukhRane is the BJP candidate from the RatnagiriSindhudurg seatVoting began at 7 am across the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the stateSome prominent contestants include royal scions Shahu Chhatrapati of the Congress in Kolhapur and BJPs Udayanraje Bhosale in SataraA total of 209 crore persons are eligible to vote for 258 candidates in the third phase an official saidAs many as 23036 polling centres have been set up in the state he saidThere are 10764741 male voters 10226946 female voters and 929 from the third gender the official saidWith inputs from PTI