Indapur records 78.46%, highest turnout in district

PUNE: Indapur constituency in Pune district did a repeat of 2009 when it recorded the highest voting percentage of 78.46 among 21 constituencies in Wednesday’s voting. The second-best voting percentage (78) came from Ambegaon.
Both constituencies have big names in the contests. In Indapur, the fight is between Congress leader and former minister Harshavardhan Patil and NCP’s Datta Bharne.
In the 2009 assembly election, Indapur recorded a 76.76% turnout.The contest was again between Patil and Bharne, who had contested as an independent. Patil had won by a margin of 7,900 votes.
In Ambegaon, the contest this time is between NCP leader and former speaker Dilip Walse Patil and Shiv Sena’s Arun Gire.
Baramati constituency, where NCP leader Ajit Pawar is contesting, recorded a turnout of 74%, the fourth highest in the district. NCP activists in Baramati said they made sure everyone voted.
“It was as if we were fighting a municipal council election where party workers visited homes and asked people to vote,” Surendra Jeware, an NCP office-bearer said. He claimed that the voters put up a united fight for victory because Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held an election rally in Baramati, the NCP’s home turf.
People said they appreciated the new government and the prime minister, but at the local level they were in favour of the NCP.
The percentages show that voters in urban areas were less enthusiastic than those in rural areas. The voting percentage touched the 70% mark in the rural areas as against 55-60% in the urban areas. The lowest turnout in the entire district was in Pune Cantonment (46.97%), which has a high urban population.