Maharashtra Elections: Anushka Sharma along with parents casts vote

As the assembly elections in the state of Maharashtra is underway, Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma along with her mother arrived at a polling booth in Mumbai to exercise his franchise and celebrate 'The Festival of Democracy'. Apart from her, several B-town celebs were also spotted. Aamir Khan and his wife Kiran Rao were the first few who cast their vote, after which Madhur Bhandarkar, Dia Mirza, John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh, Dharmendra, and many others followed. As many as 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are contesting in 288 Assembly seats of the state. Polling was underway since 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

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Maharashtra Assembly polls:

In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the NCP, a total of 8,98,39,600 people, including 4,28,43,635 women, are eligible to vote. As many as 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are contesting in 288 seats and 96,661 polling booths are in place with 6.5 lakh staff for the voting exercise.

The opposition tried to corner the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states on the handling of the economy with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi blaming the ruling party for the economic slowdown and unemployment and highlighting issues like "failure" of demonetization and GST rollout.

READ: Maharashtra Elections: Aamir Khan, Kiran Rao Cast Vote, See Pics

Turnout: 

Altogether 30.89 per cent voters exercised their franchise in the first six hours on Monday in Maharashtra, after polling for the 288 Assembly seats began at 7 am, officials said. Election officials said Akkalkuwa constituency in north Maharashtra recorded 41.32 per cent voting till 1 pm, while Magathane in north Mumbai recorded 30.43 per cent polling during the same period. Voting will end at 6 pm.

Maharashtra Elections: Dia Mirza-John Abraham cast vote, share selfies

Prominent personalities who voted include RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, CM Devendra Fadnavis, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Several Bollywood celebrities, including Aamir Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene and Lara Dutta, stepped out to vote for the Maharashtra Assembly elections