Ashish Shelar, Ashok Chavan, Ajit Pawar among early voters

Ashish Shelar. Picture Courtesy: Ashish Shelar's Twitter account

Former chief minister Ashok Chavan and the current BJP-led Maharashtra government's school education minister Ashish Shelar were among the early ones to cast their votes for the state Assembly polls on Monday. Politicians, as well as members of the public, came out to exercise their democratic right in the morning despite rain in some parts of the state. Chavan and his family members cast their votes at the Ambedkar Nagar Municipal school in Nanded district.

In Mumbai, where it has been drizzling since last two days, Shelar exercised his franchise at St Stanislaus High school in suburban Bandra. NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar voted at Baramati in Pune district. Chavan is the Congress' candidate from Bhokar in Nanded for the ongoing state polls, while Pawar is the NCP's nominee from Baramati.

Shelar is the BJP's candidate from Bandra-West seat. Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagde cast his vote in Aurangabad district. State Housing Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and his family members cast his votes at Shirdi in Ahmednagar. Former cricketer Sandeep Patil, who was also among the early voters at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, said more than the party, the merit of an individual candidate was important.

"We should vote for candidates who work for their constituencies," he said. Polling began on Monday morning in all 288 Assembly constituencies of Maharashtra where 3,237 candidates, including 235 women, are in the fray. The voting commenced at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates