Over 1.19 crore voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years will exercise their franchise for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls

Mumbai, Mar 17: Over 1.19 crore voters in the age group of 18 to 19 years will exercise their franchise for the first time in the Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, according to Election Commission (EC) data. Lok sabha polls to 48 seats in the state will be held in four phases on April 11, 18, 23 and 29. Out of the total 8,73,29,910 voters in the state, 1,19,95,027 are first-timers in the 18 to 19 years' age group, as per official figures.

Of the total voters, 4,57,01,877 are men, 4,16,25,950 women and 2,083 third gender voters. An election official said they received 12,31,027 applications online after publication of the voters' list a few months back. Of these, 7,17,427 names have now been included in the voters' list. Besides, 55.75 lakh applications were received offline, of which 43.51 lakh were accepted for registration, he said.

Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde

In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP and its ally Shiv Sena have agreed to contest 25 and 23 seats, respectively. The opposition Congress will fight in 26 seats, while its ally NCP will contest 22. The opposition parties have announced names of some of their candidates. Former BJP MP Nana Patole, who joined the Congress sometime back, will be pitted against Union minister Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur.

Senior Congress leader and former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde will contest from Solapur, while party leaders Milind Deora and Priya Dutt will fight from Mumbai-South and Mumbai-North Central seats, respectively. NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule will contest from Baramati. Besides, actor Amol Kolhe will contest on the NCP ticket from Shirur while senior party leader Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar has been nominated from Maval.