Barring stray incidents of minor skirmishes, between supporters of independent candidate Geeta Jain and her BJP rival Narendra Mehta, elections for the Mira Bhayandar (145) assembly segment was largely peaceful amidst heavy deployment and tight security by the Mira Bhayandar-Vasai Virar (MBVV) police.
The assembly constituency witnessed an approximate turnout of 51.76% at 503 polling stations across the twin-city till 6 pm. After an extremely slow start in the first round between 7 to 9am, voting picked up pace from the third round after 3pm.
In Photos: The Voting Day
A voter being Helped by Election Personnel to Climb a Ramp |
An Octogenarian Amongst Those Casted Their Votes |
With the addition of more than 60,000 new voters, the electoral strength of this assembly segment stood at 5,10,862 including, 2,43,072 female voters, 2,67, 785 male voters and five voters from the transgender community. In the 2019 assembly polls, this segment recorded a turnout of 48.41% with an electoral strength of 4,39,283.
Jain had dealt a huge blow to BJP’s sitting legislator and official candidate Narendra Mehta by defeating him by a margin of 15,526 votes while contesting as an independent after being denied a BJP ticket in the 2019 assembly elections. Muzaffar Hussain of Congress had bagged 55,939 votes. This constituency is witnessing a replay of the 2019 elections in the form of a fierce triangular contest between Mehta (BJP), Hussain (Congress) and Jain (independent). On the other hand, the nearby Ovala-Majiwada (146) assembly witnessed an approximate 52.25 % turnout till 6 pm. Pratap Sarnaik had won the elections for the third consecutive term in 2019. All eyes are now on the counting of votes scheduled on Saturday.
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