Maharashtra Assembly elections: Mumbai's industry leaders turn up to vote

Mumbai, the financial hub of India and the capital of Maharashtra, saw a slew of high-profile people cast their votes on Wednesday.

 

 

 

In Mumbai’s Malabar Hill, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das cast his vote and praised the arrangements made by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the elections. “I would like to congratulate the ECI and the election officials of Mumbai for arranging smooth voting processes. The elections are being held in the middle of the week, so everyone is expecting a high voter turnout,” he added.

 

Tata Sons’ Chairperson N Chandrasekaran also cast his ballot at a polling booth at Peddar Road while urging voters “to turn out and exercise their option and vote”. He said, “It is a precious privilege to have an opportunity to exercise voting. I am delighted that we have this privilege.”

 

Apart from Das and Chandrasekaran, Malabar Hill also saw Anand Mahindra, chairperson of Mahindra & Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, chairperson of Reliance Industries, and Isha Ambani, head of Reliance Retail Ventures, casting their votes. After casting his vote, Mahindra posted on X, “Our greatest personal wealth is our right to vote in the world’s largest democracy…”

 

Moreover, Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry, also cast his vote and urged everyone to vote. The minister also praised the ECI for its arrangements for voting processes. “It’s not merely a vote as it will craft Maharashtra and Mumbai’s future for the next five years,” he added.

 

In Malabar Hill, a part of the South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, a Member of Legislative Assembly and founder of Lodha group, is contesting on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Mahayuti. Meanwhile, opposing Lodha, Bherulal Choudhary of Shiv Sena, Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT), is representing the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

 

Across 10 Assembly constituencies in Mumbai, several residents cast their votes. Dinakar Kalambe, a resident of Worli, said, “If the law has granted us the right (to vote), we should exercise it. They have given us a day off from work. We should utilise it for voting only. It is necessary, as we are residents of this state.”

 

Meanwhile, Sahil Cheulkar, a first-time voter in the Mahim constituency, stated that it was a “special experience” and that “a decent number of people were out for voting”.

 

However, it wasn’t the same for all, as a woman in Dadar stated that it wasn’t a day off for her as she was heading to work and said that she would try to vote in the evening.

 

On the other hand, 21 Assembly constituencies in Pune district recorded a 54.09 per cent voter turnout as of 5 pm. In Pune and the neighbouring twin city Pimpri-Chinchwad, as the day drew to a close, the majority of the voting procedures were completed smoothly with some minor disruptions.

 

At a polling booth in the Bhosari Assembly constituency, a voter alleged that although their finger was marked with ink, their vote had not been registered by the booth. The matter was resolved after the polling officer inspected the electronic voting machines.

 

Meanwhile, others living away from polling booths expressed their disappointment at the lack of sufficient public transport for citizens. “I heard most of the buses here were redeployed for election duty, and I couldn’t get one for a very long time. We rely on public transport to come here to vote,” another woman said. Others called for better organisation at polling stations altogether.

 

Overall, voting in 288 constituencies across the state was carried out with over 100,000 polling stations. As of October 30, 2024, the state’s total eligible voters stood at over 97 million. On the day of voting, the stock exchanges, banks, and educational institutions in the state remained closed. The counting is scheduled to take place on Saturday.