Nagpur (Maharashtra) [India], April 19 (ANI): Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit exercised his franchise at a polling booth in Nagpur, Maharashtra, during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections on Friday.

The Punjab Governor showed his inked finger after casting his vote.

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Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 began at 7:00 am on Friday across 102 parliamentary constituencies spread over 21 states and Union Territories. Voting will end at 6 pm.

Maharashtra, the second-largest state after Uttar Pradesh (80), which contributes 48 seats in 543-member Lok Sabha, will witness a fierce contest between the two major state coalitions - the Mahayuti (Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, and Nationalist Congress Party) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP).

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In the first phase, polling is being held in five Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, including Chandrapur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Ramtek, and Nagpur.

Nagpur Lok Sabha is witnessing a contest between Nitin Gadkari and Congress' Vikas Thakre, who is currently the Nagpur West MLA.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Gadkari registered victory with a massive vote share of 55.7 per cent. He defeated the current Maharashtra Congress President, Nana Patole, with a victory margin of 2,16,009 votes. Gadkari also defeated Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar by a margin of 2,84,828 votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Chandrapur in Maharashtra was the only seat, out of the total 48 in the state, that Congress managed to win. But this time, the fight may not be easy for it as the BJP is sparing no effort to win back the constituency and fielded a state minister from there.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 seats it contested in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases. The counting of votes will be held on June 4. (ANI)

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