PUNE: Pune and 13 other constituencies in Maharashtra went to polls on Tuesday in the third phase of polling for Lok Sabha elections.
Pune recorded 15.5 per cent polling on Tuesday till 11 am. Many parts of the city like Bavdhan and Khadakwasala come under the Baramati constituency. Baramati recorded 21.33 per cent voting till 11 am.
Voters thronged the election booths early in the morning, well before the 7 am start time.
Aundh ITI, Wanowrie Bazaar, Vidhyarthi Gruha in Sadashiv Peth, Salisbury Park and many other polling stations received good response from voters in the morning.
Around 21 lakh citizens from Pune whose names are in the voting list can cast their vote at 1944 polling booths.
Long queues could be seen at almost all polling stations with people waiting patiently with their Voter ID cards and voting slips to exercise their right to vote.
At Wadgaonsheri, confusion prevailed as many who turned up could not find their voting slip at that particular polling station.
Congress Lok Sabha candidate Mohan Joshi cast his vote with family members at the Salisbury Park polling booth.
Candidates from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Girish Bapat cast his vote at Ahilyadevi High School.
Sitting Member of Parliament, Anil Shirole was also among those who came early to vote.
Commissioner of Police K Venkatesham, Pune Cantonment Board, CEO Dr D N Yadav and many other top administrative officers were spotted at polling booths across the city.
First time voters expressed their excitement at being part of country's decision making process.
Senior citizens battled age and ailment to reach polling booths on Tuesday.
Among them were 93-year-old Prabhakar Bhide and his wife Sushila, 88, who were in Pakistan at the time of partition in 1947, but moved to India next year.
Students of Camp-bases schools and Volunteers from Bharat Scouts and Guides were deployed to help senior citizen voters at Alpa Bachat Bhavan.
While a bride decided to visit polling station at NMV High School first before proceedjng to her wedding venue, another citizen decided to bring their pet dog to the polling booth -- keeping up with their polling priority.
The second on most people's priority list was clicking a selfie with their inked finger.
