Mumbai, February 8 The elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis in Maharashtra this week saw a voter turnout of 68.28 per cent, the State Election Commission (SEC) said on Sunday.
While Parbhani district recorded the highest turnout at 74.89 per cent, Ratnagiri had the lowest, with only 55.79 per cent of the electorate casting their ballots, it said.
Polling was held on Saturday in Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Parbhani, Dharashiv, and Latur districts to elect 731 members, for which 2,624 candidates were in the fray.
The votes will be counted on February 9.
According to the SEC, Parbhani was followed by Kolhapur, which recorded a voter turnout of 74.45 per cent, while Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar registered 72.69 per cent.
The elections, originally scheduled for February 5, were postponed following the death of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash and the subsequent declaration of three days of state mourning.
Seen as the first major electoral test since the tragedy, the polls are being closely watched for signals on the future direction and unity of the Nationalist Congress Party, whose factions contested in an alliance in their western Maharashtra strongholds.