Far more than internal rebellion or intra-party schism, the unexpected reappearance of rain over the weekend is giving anxious moments to candidates as the wet weather threatens to seriously impact voter turnout in several districts across Maharashtra on the eve of the Assembly polls.
According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the formation of a low-pressure system over the Arabian Sea earlier this week was likely to lead to thunderstorm accompanied by lightning at isolated places in the meteorological sub-division of ‘North Konkan’, including Mumbai, Thane and Palghar districts, with heavy rainfall forecast in some areas of Raigad district.
Likewise, Ratnagiri district in the ‘South Konkan’ sub-division, too, could witness heavy rain while showers are most likely to hit Sindhudurg district as well.
Thunderstorm, accompanied with lightning and very heavy rainfall, has been forecast for Pune, Ahmednagar and Nashik districts that comprise the ‘North Madhya Maharashtra’ sub-division and for Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur and Solapur which come under the ‘South Madhya Maharashtra sub-division’. Parts of Aurangabad, Osmanabad and Beed districts in the Marathwada region too are expected to be buffeted by showers.
Several areas in Nashik, Satara, Kolhapur and Pune ditricts have been experiencing steady, near-relentless showers since Saturday evening with no change in the overcast conditions.
The skies over these districts remained a drab grey throughout Saturday and Sunday with frequent bouts of showers throughout the better part of Sunday morning.
Short but intense spells of convective rain are likely to hit the city late afternoon on Monday, said authorities from the Pune division of the IMD.
In the 24 hours between Saturday and Sunday morning, the Shivajinagar area recorded 38 mm rain while the Pashan observatory recorded 42.8 mm rain, officials said.
“We expect moderate rain (between 15.6 mm to 64.4 mm) to continue for the next 24 hours. This may lead to water logging in low lying areas,” said Anupam Kashyapi, Head, Weather & Air Pollution Monitoring Unit of the IMD.
Dr. Kashyapi, however, added that the weather on polling day was expected to improve, at least during the first half.
“The weather will be comfortable during morning hours till up to 2 p.m. However, after that, there is a strong likelihood of thundery activity, lightning followed by short spells of gusty wind coupled with intense spells of rain,” he said.
Gloomy forecast for Pune
The forecast bodes ill for Pune city, which anyway registered an exceptionally low voter turnout at the time the Lok Sabha election earlier this year, with intense heat ostensibly deterring voters.
In fact, Pune’s lackluster voter turnout (a little over 49%) was the lowest among all 14 Parliamentary constituencies in the State, falling below even the 53% figure recorded in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Advising voters to carry their rain gear along with them to polling stations, Pune District Collector Naval Kishore Ram appealed to people to come out and vote in large numbers.
“Water-proof arrangements are in place at all the 7,915 polling stations, including, those in rural Pune. There is no cause for alarm and the voters will not face any problem even in the face of rains. However, with a rain forecast in place, I urge voters to exert themselves a little and not squander this chance of participating in democracy’s biggest event,” said Mr. Ram, speaking to The Hindu .
He further said that of the 1,000 or so polling booths that were sited in the upper floors of the polling centre, the administration had made efforts to move most of these booths to the ground floor in a bid to make the process smooth and more hassle-free for the elderly and the differently-abled voters.
