Maharashtra: Dismal turnout in Yavatmal by-poll

Yavatmal: Only 37.5 per cent of the voters turned out at the polling booths during the by-election to Yavatmal Assembly constituency in Maharashtra on Sunday. The polling, however, was completely peaceful, District Collector Ashwin Mudgal said.

He said the voting percentage might go up a little after the final figures came in. About the reasons for poor turn-out, Mudgal said there were 237 weddings in the district today, most of them in Yavatmal constituency, which affected the polling, apart from the summer heat.

The main candidates in the fray are Congress's Nandini Parvekar, the widow of the late MLA Nilesh Parvekar, whose death in a car accident necessitated the by-election, and BJP's Madan Yerawar.