Mumbai: A total of 3,559 candidates are putting their best foot forward, 84,136 polling stations are ready and elaborate security arrangements are in place as Maharashtra prepares for Tuesday's crucial Assembly elections, where the stakes are high for the main political parties.
The three-week campaign was marred by a Maoist attack that killed 17 policemen in Gadchiroli district. It is still a cause of worry to the security apparatus.
Seventy six million voters are eligible to cast their ballots in the 84,136 polling stations around the state. While eight mainstream parties are in the fray, there are also small regional groups and independents, including many rebels.
Coming five months after the Lok Sabha elections that brought the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance to power for a second term at the centre, the mood is quite upbeat in the ruling Congress-led Democratic Front (DF) government in the state, which is hoping for a hat-trick. The other member of the alliance is the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
The Opposition Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine is making an all-out attempt to dislodge the Congress-NCP and usher in what it calls 'Shiv-Shahi' (Shivaji's Rule).
In the previous elections (2004), the DF had won 139 seats while the Shiv Sena-BJP secured 119 and the rest, including independents, bagged 30 of the 288 at stake.
Unlike in the past two elections (1999 and 2004), Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is now giving a few jitters to the Shiv Sena-BJP combine, while the united might of the Republican Party of India (RPI)-Left-Democratic Third Front is sending alarm signals to the Congress-NCP.
With 48 seats in the lower house of Parliament, Maharashtra is the second most important state in national politics after Uttar Pradesh. The country's ruling Congress is keen to retain power here, especially since it has been out of power in Uttar Pradesh for many years now.
The elections, coming in the shadow of last year's 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, are a test of credibility for Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's brief tenure; he replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh in the wake of the attacks.
A victory could help Chavan gain an upper hand over senior party leader Narayan Rane, a strong contender for the chief minister's post.
On the Opposition side, the stakes are equally high. BJP leader Gopinath Munde is heading the party's election battle and this is a test for him to wrest the position once enjoyed in the party by his brother-in-law, late Pramod Mahajan.
Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray has other targets too – he will fight less with the ruling DF combine than with his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray.
The October 13 poll's outcome will decide who Maharashtrians consider the rightful heir to the legacy of ageing Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.
The 288 assembly seats at stake has 211 women candidates among the 3,559.
Among the eagerly watched seats will be Amravati where Rajendrasingh Shekhawat, son of President Pratibha Patil, is pitted against a prominent Congress rebel; and Wani in Yavatmal where Bebitai Bai – widow of one of the many farmers forced into suicide by debt – is contesting. Both seats are in eastern Maharashtra.
In Western Maharashtra, an interesting contest is taking place in Osmanabad where Jagjitsinh Patil of the NCP is pitted against Shiv Sena's Omraje Nimbalkar.
Patil is the son of NCP MP Padamsinh Patil, accused of killing a Congress leader Pavanraje Nimbalkar, whose son Omraje is now contesting the same seat on a Sena ticket.
Besides, union minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter Praniti is contesting from Solapur, while union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh's son Amit is standing from Latur.
There are 64 candidates, including seven in Mumbai, who have said in their affidavits filed with the Election Commission that they are "penniless".
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