Amid reports about one electronic voting machine (EVM) in a polling booth in Nanded district being damaged by an aggrieved voter and malfunctioning EVMs at a few places, nearly 53.51 per cent of the total 1.5 crore voters exercised their franchise till 5 pm, in eight of the Lok Sabha constituencies that went to polls in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions.

Available indications suggested the final voting percentage may either touch cross 60 per cent, which is significant considering that voters turned at the polling booth braving the hot weather conditions that prevailed in all the poll-bound constituencies.

In the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, Buldhana, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim — all in Vidarbha region, Hingoli, Nanded, and Parbhani — in Marathwada region went to polls on Friday.

Of the average of 53.51 per cent polling reported till 5 pm, Wardha accounted for a maximum of 56.66 per cent voting, followed by Amravati - 54.50 per cent, Yavatmal-Washim -54.04 percent, Parbhani -53.79 per cent, Akola -52.49 per cent,  Nanded - 52.47 per cent, Buldhana - 52.24 per cent and Hingoli - 52.03 per cent

In an untoward incident, an aggrieved voter - identified as one Bhaiyyasaheb Edke (26)-broke an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) by hitting with a hammer at a polling booth at Rampuri in Nanded district in Nanded constituency of Marathwada region.

Immediately after the incident, Edke was arrested by the local police. The polling was suspended for some time in that booth. However, after the damaged EVM was replaced with a new one, the voting resumed in the affected booth.

Edke, who gave vent to his anger by breaking the EVM, said that he was looking forward to people electing a pro-farmer and pro-labourer government in the country.  The police are investigating the credentials, the motive behind his act of breaking the EVM and if he belonged to any political party.      There were reports from Buldhana constituency that owing to malfunctioning of EVMs at a few booths, the voting had to be suspended for a while. However, the voting passed off peacefully in all the affected polling booths.

In Parbhani, the people in Balsa village had announced a boycott of the poll. However, the district collector reached out to the villagers personally and prevailed on them to cast their votes. After the district collector's intervention, the voting took place in the village without a hitch. 

Of the eight constituencies that went to polls, three constituencies — Buldhana, Yavatmal-Washim and Hingoli — are witnessing a direct fight between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which is taking on the Shiv Sena (UBT). This is the first major elections that the two Shiv Sena outfits are clashing against each other  after the the Shiv Sena split that saw senior party leader Eknath Shinde rebel against Uddhav Thackeray, walk out of the party along with 40-odd MLAs team up with the Opposition BJP to form a government in Maharashtra in June 2022.

In Buldhana, Shiv Sena (UBT), three-time Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav is taking on Narendra Khedekar of the Sena (UBT).  In the neighbouring Yavatmal-Washim, the Shinde Sena has dropped its five-time MP Bhavana Gwali and fielded Rajashree Patil, wife of the party's Hingoli MP Hemant Patil against Sanjay Deshmukh of the Sena (UBT).  In Hingoli, the Shinde Sena has nominated Baburao Kolatkar against Nagesh Patil Ashtikar of the Sena (UBT).

In Amravati and Nanded, a close contest is being witnessed between the ruling BJP and Congress. Both the constituencies are important because: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressed a massive gathering at Amravati and his speech found traction with the voters, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into Rahul at Nanded in his election speech.