Assembly elections 2019 LIVE: Maharashtra records 44.61% voter turnout, Haryana 53.78% till 5 pm

Voting for the assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana is currently underway in the first major elections after the Lok Sabha polls in April-May.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance is fighting to win all of Maharashtra's 288 Assembly seats, the opposition – Congress and its ally Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party – will try and take advantage of anti-incumbency.

This is the first time that BJP in Maharashtra is contesting on more number of seats than Shiv Sena.

The BJP, Congress, INLD, and JJP will fight to win 90 seats in Haryana. Congress is likely to seek advantage of the high unemployment rates, drug menace and lack of women's safety measures in the state as election issues.

The Haryana Congress chief, Kumari Selja, had said in an interview last week that the state's electorate would vote for "real issues" and not BJP's "duped slogans".

Bypolls will also be held on Monday in 51 Assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies across 17 states and one union territory.

The counting of votes will take place on Thursday.

Here are the Live updates of the polls:

As per the ECI data, Haryana recorded 53.78 per cent voter turnout and Maharashtra recorded 44.61 per cent till 5 pm.

Estimated voter turnout in Maharashtra has been 40.84 percent till 3 pm. In Haryana, it was 49.75 percent. 

According to the EC data, Haryana saw 39.17 percent voter turnout till 2 pm. 

"There was some issue in an electronic voting machine (EVM) at polling booth number 62 of Worli Assembly constituency but the machine has been replaced and voting is going on," said Sushma Satpute, Election Commission officer at Worli.

Maharashtra witnessed 30.61 percent voter turnout till 2 pm. 

According to ECI, Haryana saw 33.46 percent turnout till 1 PM. Maharashtra's turnout was 22.79 percent.

"BJP is going to form govt in both the states, Haryana & Maharashtra. We are confident that people will continue to support Prime Minister Modi, his philosophy & his policies," said Union Minister and BJP leader Dharmendra Pradhan.

"Considering the amount of work & development that Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis has done in last 5 years in Maharashtra, I am sure we will have a record-breaking victory in Maharashtra Assembly election," said Nitin Gadkari. 

117 candidates out of the 1,168 contesting the Assembly polls 2019 in Haryana have criminal cases registered against them. 

Bhupinder Singh Hooda (Congress)

Manohar Lal Khattar (Bharatiya Janata Party)

Kuldeep Bishnoi (Congress)

Sri Krishan Hooda (Congress)

Ranbir Singh Mahendra (Congress)

Babita Phogat (Bharatiya Janata Party)

Chander Mohan (Congress)

Captain Abhimanyu (Congress)

Randeep Singh Surjewala (Congress)

Sonali Phogat (Bharatiya Janata Party)

Dushyant Chautala (Jannayak Janata Party)

Abhay Singh Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal)

Voter turnout in Haryana till 11 am has been 8.92 percent. 

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, son Aaditya Thackeray cast their votes at Bandra East.

6.78 percent voter turnout in Maharashtra until 11 am. 

5.77 percent turnout in Mumbai sub-urban.  

"Voting is underway peacefully across the state. Opposition parties including Congress have already lost and have left the battleground, their tall claims have no value," Khattar said after casting his vote. 

Voting underway

Voter turnout in Haryana till 9 am has been 8.73 percent. 

Aaditya Thackeray took to Twitter to urge voters to cast their votes. Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's son is fighting for Mumbai's Worli constituency seat. 

"am confident that the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will win around 225 seats, opposition has lost all credibility and is nowhere in the contest. People are with Modi ji and Fadnavis ji," said Goyal. 

Total candidates - 1169

Number of constituencies: 90

Number of polling booths: 19,578

Total candidates - 3237

Number of constituencies: 288

Number of polling booths: 96,661