Voting in the state assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana – 288 constituencies in Maharashtra and 90 in Haryana - ended at 6 pm today and the fate of contestants 3,237 in Maharashtra and 1,169 in Haryana will be known when results are declared on
Bypolls were also held to 51 assembly seats and two Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 18 states.
Maharashtra is witnessing an intense contest between two coalitions - 'Mahayuti' of BJP-Shiv Sena and 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the NCP.
Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis is in the electoral battle seeing a second term for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance while opposition is raising issues like unemployment, agrarian distress and drought to gain attention.
In the 288-member Assembly, BJP is contesting 164 seats, which includes candidates of smaller allies contesting on its lotus symbol, while its ally Shiv Sena fielded 126 candidates.
Congress has its candidates in 147 constituencies and NCP is contesting 121 seats.
In Haryana, the assembly election witnessed a multi-cornered contest among BJP, Congress, Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP). Both BJP and Congress are contesting on 90 seats, BSP 87, four from the CPI 4, CPI-M 7, NCP 1, INLD 81, Independents 375 and 434 other candidates are in the fray. Polling started at 7 am amid tight security.
At 6 pm the overall voting percentage in Maharashtra was 55.44 per cent and in Haryana it was 61.72 per cent.
Results will be declared after counting of votes on 25 October.