31.77 pc polling in Maharashtra's 8 seats till 1 p.m.

Mumbai: A voter turnout of 31.77 per cent was recorded till 1 p.m. for the 8 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra where voting is being held on Friday.

Parbhani registered the highest polling percentage till 1 p.m. at 33.88 per cent, followed by Nanded (32.93 per cent), Wardha (32.32 per cent), Akola (32.25 per cent), Yavatmal-Washim (31.47 per cent), Amravati (31.40 per cent), Hingoli (30.46 per cent), and Buldhana (29.07 per cent).

A total of 1,49, 25,912 eligible voters are expected to exercise their voting rights at 16,589 polling stations in these eight constituencies.

In Nanded, the BJP has renominated Pratap Patil Chikhalikar against Congress nominee Vasant Chavan.

In Akola, Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) founder Prakash Ambedkar, who could not agree to a sharing arrangement with the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners, is in the fray against BJP nominee Anup Mhatre and Congress candidate Abhay Patil.

In Amaravati, the BJP has nominated Navneet Rana against Congress' Balwant Wankhede. Prahar Janashakti Party founder and former minister Bachhu Kadu has also fielded his party’s candidate in this seat.

In Wardha, NCP (SP) has nominated Amara Kale against BJP's two-time MP Ramdas Tadas, while in Yavatmal-Washim, the fight is between Shiv Sena nominee Rajashri Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Sanjay Deshmukh.

In Hingoli, the Shiv Sena nominee Baburao Kadam Kohalikar is pitted against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Nagesh Patil Ashitkar.

In Parbhani, the NCP left the seat to its MahaYuti ally Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, which has fielded its founder Mahadev Jankar against Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee and sitting MP Sanjay Jadhav.

In Buldhana, Shiv Sena nominee and sitting MP Prataprao Jadhav is pitted against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Narendra Khedekar.