Maha polls: India Inc's leading lights cast their vote

Leading lights of India Inc, including N Chandrasekaran, Deepak Parekh and Adi Godrej among others on Wednesday voted during the Maharashtra Assembly elections, saying their vote is for a stable government in the country's most industrialised state.

"What is more important is that one particular (party) government should come to power," Gitanjali Gems' chairman Mehul Choksi said after casting his vote. Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej was more vocal in rooting for the BJP, saying a saffron party victory bodes well for the state.

"I think the BJP's position will be good, especially after the campaigning done by the Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) in Maharashtra. It will also be good for the state's progress if the state and the Centre are synchronised," he said, after exercising his franchise in a tony south Mumbai neighbourhood.

Others who voted included infra company HCC chairman Ajit Gulabchand, who has sizeable business interests in the state, including the controversial IPO-bound Lavasa project.

"Maharashtra is as big as Germany, hopefully we should be as good as or richer than Germany," Gulabchand said. Others who voted included mortgage major HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh, who had missed out on voting in the Lok Sabha polls held in May as the voters' list did not have his name.

Among other leading lights who exercised their franchise included TCS CEO and MD N Chandrasekaran, who voted at a polling booth in central Mumbai's Worli.

Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan has many engagements scheduled in Hyderabad during the evening and it was not immediately clear if he had voted or not.

Polling for the 288-seat Assembly is being held in a single-phase today.

Over 4,000 candidates are in the fray, whose political fortunes will be decided by over eight crore registered voters in a multi-cornered fight, with all the major parties avoiding pre-poll alliances.