Mumbai turnout falls to 52.2% from 2019 despite star power

Mumbai recorded a turnout of 52.27 percent, lower than that in 2019, in the general elections on Monday amid sultry weather and complaints of delays in the polling process.

The constituency of Mumbai South, home to industrialists as well as high-ranking government officials, fared the worst with 47.7 percent voting.

In 2019, the polling percentage across the six Lok Sabha constituencies in the city was 55.38 percent.

Mumbai North constituency witnessed 55.21 percent polling on Monday, Mumbai North Central 51.42 percent, Mumbai North East 53.75 percent, Mumbai North West 53.67 percent, Mumbai South 47.70 percent and Mumbai South Central 51.88 percent, as per the Election Commission's data.

While at some places people who had turned up at polling booths early in the morning left without casting their vote after waiting in the line for a long time, Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray alleged that the process was slowed down deliberately.

Voters at many polling booths complained that they had to wait for more than an hour in the line to cast the vote.

A voter in Bimbisar Nagar in Goregaon East said, "I came to vote around noon, but it took nearly one and a half hours. I am a senior citizen and still came to vote, but it took longer than it had taken in 2019."

"There is a lot of enthusiasm among voters, but the Election Commission is acting in a partial manner. There is a delay by EC's representatives in certain areas," Uddhav Thackeray alleged at a press conference in the afternoon.

Priyanka Chaturvedi, Sena-UBT Rajya Sabha member who was standing in a queue at a polling centre in Malad area of Mumbai, said, "Nearly 2,000 voters are expected to vote at one booth. The EC should have provided two machinesto increase the pace. It looks like the EC is discouraging people from voting. People who have been standing since 7.30 am are able to vote at 10 am."

Congress candidate from Mumbai North Central constituency Varsha Gaikwad said, "I have received complaints from voters that they do not have enough facilities at polling booths. Long queues and exposure to the heat are testing their patience. Some people have returned home without exercising their franchise."

High levels of humidity and a maximum temperature of 35 degrees Celsius added to the voters' discomfort.
Union minister Piyush Goyal is pitted against Bhushan Patil of Congress in Mumbai North, Sanjay Dina Patil of Shiv sena (UBT) is in contest against Mihir Kotecha of the BJP in Mumbai North East, and Advocate Ujjwal Nikam of the BJP is pitted against Varsha Gaikwad of Congress in Mumbai North central.

Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena-UBT is fighting against Ravindra Waikar of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai North West, Anil Desai of Shiv Sena-UBT is facing off against Rahul Shewale of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai South Central and Arvind Sawant of Sena-UBT is pitted against Yamini Jadhav of the Shiv Sena in Mumbai South.

Industrialists Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, Ratan Tata, film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jaya Bachchan, Nana Patekar, Shreyas Talpade, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan, Sanjay Dutt, Madhuri Dixit, Hema Malini, Dharmendra, Sunny Deol, Ashok Saraf and Prashant Damle were prominent among those who cast their votes in Maharashtra's capital.

Overall voting percentage in the 13 constituencies in Maharashtra where polling was held in the final phase of the elections in the state on Monday stood at 54.22.