Bollywood turned up in large numbers to meet PM Narendra Modi, but was quite late off the blocks when it came to exercising their right to vote during the Maharashtra Assembly elections on Monday.
While Aamir Khan was one of the earliest to cast his ballot, his wife Kiran came in later. “I have voted, keeping in mind the issues that I feel are important, and I feel that everyone should come and vote,” said Aamir. “We want our state to do well and I have kept that in mind,” said Kiran.
Madhuri Dixit Nene also came in to ink her finger rather early, as did Dia Mirza. Lara Dutta who came in to vote along with her husband Mahesh Bhupathi, clearly said that there was an agenda in her voting. “Mahesh and I have been in Mumbai for 25 years and we want the right king of progress for Maharashtra. In the past two years, there has been a lot of progress in terms of infrastructure, but we are talking about responsible infrastructure. Yes, the metro and coastal roads are coming up, but one has to make sure that people are not inconvenienced, and the environment,” Lara said. The actress agreed that the Aarey Forest was on her agenda when she voted.
“Every voter should first come and vote,” opined politician Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son Riteish Deshmukh and wife Genelia D’Souza Deshmukh after casting their votes. Riteish’s two brothers Dheeraj Deshmukh and Amit Deshmukh are contesting as Congress candidates from Latur Rural and Latur constituencies.
Meanwhile, actress Padmini Kolhapure, actor Ashish Vidyarthi, actor and politician Ravi Kissen, filmmaker Sanjay Khan and his family, music composer Pyarelal and family, filmmakers Subhash Ghai and Onir were also some of the celebrities who turned up to vote by the time we went to press.
