Mumbai, May 8 (IANS): Maharashtra's 11 constituencies, which went to the poll on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections, recorded around 61 per cent voter turnout, according to the provisional figures released by the Election Commission of India. In the 2019 elections, these constituencies witnessed 63 per cent voting.

Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer's office said that the voting percentage will increase as the information from the 11 constituencies is still being gathered.

In the third phase, 258 candidates have been in the fray. With 38 contestants, Baramati has the highest number of candidates in the fray while Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg with 9 has the lowest.

There were 1.07 crore male and 1.02 crore female and 929 transgender voters in these constituencies.

The ongoing heat wave and summer vacations also adversely impacted the turnout. Of the 11 constituencies, the much debated Baramati constituency where it was a high-intensity political battle between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar reported the lowest turnout of 50.80 per cent.

Of the other 10 constituencies, Kolhapur reported the highest turnout at 68.03 per cent, Hatkanangale (65.10 per cent), Satara (63.05 per cent), Madha (62.17 per cent), Dharashiv (Osmanabad) (60.41 per cent), Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg (59.23 per cent), Raigad (58.01 per cent) and Solapur (57.61 per cent).

In Kolhapur, the Congress has fielded Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj against Shiv Sena nominee Sanjay Mandlik while in Hatkanangale the Shiv Sena has renominated Dhairyasheel Mane against Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Satyajit Patil. In addition, the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana founder Raju Shetti and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi nominee D.C. Patil are also in the fray.

In Satara, Chhatrapati Shivaji’s descendant and BJP nominee Udayanraje Bhosale is pitted against NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar nominee Shashikant Shinde; in Dharashiv, there is a direct fight between Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Omraje Nimbalkar and NCP nominee Archana Pawar while in Madha, BJP’s sitting MP Ranjit Singh Naik Nimbalkar is taking on NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil.

Maharashtra NCP chief Sunil Tatkare is contesting against former Union Minister and Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Ananta Geete in Raigad while Congress nominee Praniti Shinde faces a direct contest from BJP nominee Ram Satpute. In Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Union Minister and BJP nominee Narayan Rane is contesting his maiden Lok Sabha elections against the Shiv Sena’s two-term MP Vinayak Raut.