More than 9.7 voters are expected to exercise their franchise to elect 288 members of the highly contested Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday.

Simultaneously, the by-poll for the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency is also taking place.

Voters will decide the fates of 4136 candidates in 1,00,427polling stations in the politically crucial state.

The ruling Mahayuti - Shiv Sena (Shinde), BJP and the NCP (AP) are battling the polls against the opposition alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis (BJP), Ajit Pawar(NCP),, Aditya Thackeray(UBT), Amit Thackeray (MNS), Dhanananay Munde(NCP) Rohit Pawar (NCP-SP),Yugendra Pawar (NCP-SP), Vijay Wadettiwar (Cong), Prithviraj Chavan (Cong) and Dilip Valse Patil (NCP-AP) are the key contestants in Maharashtra.