Mumbai (Maharashtra): Cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar and his son Arjun, a budding left-arm pacer cast their vote during the ongoing Lok Sabha elections at a polling booth in on Monday, May 20.
Tendulkar has been recognised as the 'national icon' of the Election Commission of India (EC) to raise voter awareness in the electoral process. Arjun Tendulkar plays for the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Mumbai Indians (MI).
Sachin Tendulkar's wife Anjali and his daughter, Sara, could not make it to Mumbai because of the latter's post-graduation convocation ceremony, sources told ETV Bharat.
Sachin, a veteran of 200 Tests, and Arjun showed their inked finger after exercising their franchise. "I would like to say that problems happen because, one, you act without thinking, and two, you just keep thinking but do not act. I would urge people to cast their vote. It is extremely important for our nation's future," Tendulkar, who also played for Mumbai, told reporters here.
Sachin Tendulkar is the leading run-scorer in international cricket, with 34,357 runs and 100 centuries in 664 international games. He was also part of the Indian team that won the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup.
Voting for six Lok Sabha seats of Mumbai is underway. The seats are Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South, and Mumbai South Central. The other constituencies of Maharashtra that are a part of the ongoing election in the fifth phase include Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi and Thane. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh.
The fifth phase witnesses key contests in various constituencies. Leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Rohini Acharya are looking for electoral success. Eight states/UTs going for polls in phase 5 are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Of the 49 Lok Sabha seats, 14 are from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, 7 from West Bengal, 5 from Bihar, 3 from Jharkhand, 5 from Odisha, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
