Mumbai/Chandigarh: Voting has begun in Maharashtra and Haryana for the high-stakes Assembly elections in both the states. The elections are being seen as the first major test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity after the Lok Sabha polls.

Voters could be seen queued up at some polling stations even before the official start time of 7 am.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for BJP coming to power on its own in both the states.

This is also the first elections in Maharashtra after established political formations – Shiv Sena-BJP and Cong-NCP – crumbled and the parties are contesting alone after 15 years.

Congress and NCP had ruled the state for 15 continuous years from 1999.

In Haryana too, the BJP junked its allies and pumped for majority on its own to dislodge Congress that had been ruling the state for the last 10 years.

The polling will continue till 6 pm.

Counting of votes will be held on October 19.

The high stakes in the elections could be seen from the fact that Modi addressed 38 rallies in a period of 10 days in both the states in a campaign that virtually became Modi versus the rest.

The Congress campaign in both the states was spearheaded by party president Sonia Gandhi while for the NCP it was Sharad Pawar and for Shiv Sena it was father-son combination of Uddhav Thackeray and Aditya.

The strength of the Maharashtra Assembly is 288.

An electorate of about 8.25 crore will choose from 4,119 candidates in the fray, including 1,699 Independents.

While Congress has fielded the largest number of 287 candidates, BJP 280 (including 23 of allies contesting on BJP symbol), Shiv Sena 282, NCP 278 and MNS 219.

With long-standing political alliances crumbling, the poll will test the mettle of four major parties Congress, NCP, BJP and Shiv Sena individually, with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena trying to emerge as the X factor in the keenly watched contest. The Congress-NCP combine has been ruling the state for 15 years.

In Haryana, about 1.63 crore voters, including 87.37 lakh women are eligible to vote at 16,357 polling stations to decide the fate of 1,351 candidates, including 109 women.

In Haryana, the INLD campaign was led by former CM and party supremo Om Parkash Chautala, who was out on bail on health grounds after being imprisoned in Tihar Jail at New Delhi in the teachers recruitment scam.

Chautala’s outing was cut short after the CBI approached the Delhi High Court, saying that the INLD chief was violating the bail terms by addressing election meetings.

The INLD leader was asked to surrender before the Tihar Jail authorities and he was back in prison on Saturday evening.

The campaign in Haryana saw the PM Modi targeting Congress exploiting the controversy surrounding the land deals involving Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, saying it symbolised the corruption of 10 years of Congress regime. He sought a majority for BJP, saying a hung Assembly will serve no one’s interest.

The top guns battling it out in Haryana include the kin of the three famous ‘Lals’.