Maharashtra Assembly Election 2019 vs 2024 : 3.67% Higher Voting This Year
28% More in Kolhapur; 10% Less in Mumbai City
Mumbai : Voting for the 2024 Assembly Elections was conducted in Maharashtra on Wednesday. Voting took place across all 288 seats in the state’s 36 districts, where voters in many districts showed tremendous enthusiasm. According to current data, the total voter turnout in the state is 65.11%. In 2019, the total voting in Maharashtra was 61.44%. Thus, voting has increased by 3.67% compared to the previous Assembly elections.
In this Maharashtra election, over 9.70 crore voters were eligible to exercise their voting rights. Of these, 5.00 crore were men, 4.69 crore women, and 6,101 were third-gender voters.
District-wise Voting Comparison 2019 vs 2024:
| District | Vote in 2019 (%) | Vote in 2024 (%) | Change (%) |
| Kolhapur | 48.22 | 76.25 | 28.03 |
| Sangli | 48.03 | 71.89 | 23.86 |
| Sindhudurg | 51.28 | 68.4 | 17.12 |
| Satara | 57.85 | 71.71 | 13.86 |
| Ahilya Nagar | 61.21 | 71.73 | 10.52 |
| Solapur | 58.08 | 67.36 | 9.28 |
| Jalna | 65.01 | 72.3 | 7.29 |
| Ratnagiri | 57.39 | 64.65 | 7.26 |
| Gadchiroli | 66.83 | 73.68 | 6.85 |
| Beed | 61 | 67.79 | 6.79 |
| Latur | 60.88 | 66.92 | 6.04 |
| Dharashiv | 58.98 | 64.27 | 5.29 |
| Raigad | 62.08 | 67.23 | 5.15 |
| Hingoli | 66.01 | 71.1 | 5.09 |
| Parbhani | 65.42 | 70.38 | 4.96 |
| Chandrapur | 66.65 | 71.27 | 4.62 |
| Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar | 64.83 | 68.89 | 4.06 |
| Nashik | 64.14 | 67.57 | 3.43 |
| Palghar | 62.91 | 65.95 | 3.04 |
| Yavatmal | 66.55 | 69.02 | 2.47 |
| Gondia | 67.09 | 69.53 | 2.44 |
| Bhandara | 67.18 | 69.42 | 2.24 |
| Buldhana | 69.18 | 70.32 | 1.14 |
| Wardha | 67.77 | 68.3 | 0.53 |
| Pune | 61.33 | 61.05 | -0.28 |
| Nanded | 66.03 | 64.92 | -1.11 |
| Washim | 68.27 | 66.01 | -2.26 |
| Amravati | 68.26 | 65.57 | -2.69 |
| Akola | 68.27 | 64.98 | -3.29 |
| Nandurbar | 74.45 | 69.15 | -5.3 |
| Jalgaon | 69.77 | 64.42 | -5.35 |
| Dhule | 70.34 | 64.7 | -5.64 |
| Thane | 62.4 | 56.05 | -6.35 |
| Mumbai Suburbs | 62.19 | 55.77 | -6.42 |
| Nagpur | 67.34 | 60.49 | -6.85 |
| Mumbai city | 62.18 | 52.07 | -10.11 |
| TOTAL | 61.44 | 65.11 | 3.67 |
Key Faces of this Election:
Notable figures in the Maharashtra election include Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, Congress State President Nana Patole, and former minister Aditya Thackeray. The political fortunes of former minister Nawab Malik, Shiv Sena entrant from BJP Shaina NC, Agriculture Minister Dhananjay Munde, Maharashtra SP chief Abu Azmi, and former minister Jayant Patil will also be decided in this election.
Who is Competing?
In this election, there are 4,136 candidates, 27.7% more than the last time. Of these, 2,086 are independent candidates. In 2019, when the contest was between BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP alliance, a total of 3,239 candidates had contested. This time, the political landscape has changed significantly due to the split of Shiv Sena and NCP in the last two years.
This time, the main contest in Maharashtra is considered to be between Mahayuti and Mahavikash Aghadi. According to Election Commission data, BJP has fielded the most candidates (149) in the ruling Mahayuti alliance. In the Mahayuti, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has fielded 81 candidates, and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led NCP has fielded 59 candidates.
BJP has also left four seats for alliance partners. These include Republican Party of India (Athawale) led by Central Minister Ramdas Athawale, which has fielded a candidate from Kalina Assembly seat. Other allied parties include Yuva Swabhiman Party from Badnera, Jan Surajya Shakti Party from Shahuwadi, and Rashtriya Samaj Party from Gangakhed. Additionally, many BJP faces are contesting on other party symbols, with Shaina NC being a prominent name.
Malegaon Madhya, a Muslim-majority constituency, is a seat where Mahayuti has neither fielded a candidate nor extended support to any candidate. The current MLA Mufti Mohammad Ismail Abdul Khalik from AIMIM is in the fray, facing Congress’s Ejaz Aziz Beg.
On the other hand, in the opposition Mahavikash Aghadi, Congress has fielded candidates on the most seats (101). Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded 95 candidates, and NCP (Sharad Chandra Pawar) has fielded 86 candidates. Some constituencies will see a ‘friendly contest’ between allies. Among smaller parties, BSP has fielded 237 candidates, and AIMIM has fielded 17 candidates.
