Panvel assembly segment tops with most voters in Maharashtra

NAVI MUMBAI: When NCP candidate in Maval, Parth Pawar, launched his poll campaign two weeks ago, he started from Panvel-same as his arch rival and sitting Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne. For, every fourth voter in the Maval

Lok Sabha

seat lives in the Panvel assembly segment, which has seen a huge population growth in the past decade along with rapid urbanisation, thanks its proximity to Mumbai.

With nearly 5.15 lakh voters, Panvel assembly segment has an electorate nearly 10 times bigger than India's smallest Lok Sabha constituency, Lakshwadeep (around 55,000). To compare with Mumbai, the assembly segment with the highest number of voters in the metropolis is Chandivli, which has 3.61 lakh voters.

The climb has been steady and steep. After delimitation of constituencies in 2008, Panvel had 2.58 lakh voters during the 2009 assembly election. Within five years, the figure surged to 4.16 lakh voters during the 2014 elections. And now, it has 5.15 lakh voters.