The city’s apathetic voters could take lessons from the rural pockets of Maharashtra. The voter turnout in Mumbai's island city--home to some of the most affluent people in the country--was the lowest in the state according to figures released by the Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday.

The voter turnout in rural Maharashtra was higher than that in big cities.

Final polling figures released by the EC revealed that Naxal-affected Gadchiroli in Vidarbha recorded a high voting percentage of 64.85 per cent while Mumbai city was at 43.23 per cent. The turnout in suburban Mumbai was 47.16 per cent.

Raigad district recorded around 67.82 per cent polling. Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts in Konkan recorded 67.49 and 65.64 per cent polling respectively while Kolhapur district recorded 73.99 per cent voting.

The highest voter turn out was recorded in Karveer constituency of Kolhapur district and the lowest from Colaba.

Maharashtra recorded a lower voter turnout these polls-— 60.37 per cent — compared to the 63.4 per cent recorded in the 2004 Assembly polls. Mumbai also fared poorly this time, recording 45.19 per cent voting The percentage was 48.8 in 2004.

The voting percentage across western Maharashtra was between 55 to 70 per cent. The region has 10 ministers, the state Assembly speaker and a former deputy chief minister (R. R. Patil) in the fray.

The Marathwada region that has given Maharashtra at least four chief ministers between 64 to 68 per cent turnout.