India's richest state of Maharashtra begins voting for provincial elections

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - Voting began early Wednesday in India’s western state of Maharashtra for provincial elections.

According to election authorities, polling began for 288 seats of the state, which is the country's wealthiest and includes the city of Mumbai, the country's financial capital.

Around 97 million voters are eligible to cast ballots in the election, in which the fate of 4,136 candidates will be decided.

Voting began at 7 a.m. local time (0130GMT) and ends at 6 p.m. (1230GMT).

The election commission has set up 100,186 polling booths across the state.

In Wednesday's voting, the contest is between the Mahayuti alliance led by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress party-led Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance.

The election is the first major poll battle for the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) headed by the Indian National Congress and the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP after this year’s general elections.

The top leaders of the parties conducted aggressive campaigning in the politically significant state to woo voters. Experts say local factors would also play a key role in deciding the outcome of the elections.

The vote count will take place on Nov. 23.

Ahead of the voting, the Election Commission of India said on X: “Don't miss your chance to shape democracy -- make your vote count!”

Along with Maharashtra, elections will also take place in Jharkhand state, where 38 of the 81 assembly seats will vote on Wednesday in the final phase of polling.