Pune/Solapur (Maharashtra), May 7 (IANS): Voting started for 11 constituencies in the third phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections with prominent personalities like Chhatrapati Shrimant Shahu Maharaj, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) President Ajit Pawar and Congress’ Solapur candidate Praniti Shinde among the early voters in Baramati seat, here on Tuesday.

Accompanied by members of the royal family, Chhatrapati Maharaj came to vote along with his family at the polling station in Kolhapur, where he is contesting as a united Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate.

Ajit Pawar arrived and voted at a polling station in Kategaon, along with his wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP candidate from Baramati, in the high-stakes fight with her ‘nanad’, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) Working President Supriya Sule.

Daughter of former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, Praniti Shinde along with her family turned up to vote at a polling station in Solapur and urged voters to come out and exercise their franchise.

However, Ajit Pawar has said that there is no place for emotions and the present elections are for the agenda of development and the performance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The voting for Phase III got off to a brisk start in Baramati, Dharashiv, Hatkanangle, Kolhapur, Latur, Madha, Raigad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Sangli, Satara and Solapur, with a total of 258 candidates of all major parties in the fray.

In a bid to boost the turnout in view of the severe heatwave conditions, all parties and candidates have appealed to the voters to step out in large numbers in the morning hours and cast their votes before the temperatures start soaring.