Polling kicks off for final phase of Lok Sabha elections
Polling for the final phase of the Lok Sabha elections on 57 seats kicked off at 7:00am on Saturday. The citizens will vote to determine the fate of 904 candidates—including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is contesting from Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The first six phases were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20 and May 25—recording turnouts of 66.1, 66.7, 61.0, 67.3, 60.5 and 63.4%, respectively. The results will be declared on June 4.
Assembly polls and candidate details for final phase
Here are the states and union territory going to polls on Saturday: Punjab (13 seats), Himachal Pradesh (4), Jharkhand (3), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (13), Bihar (8), West Bengal (9), Chandigarh (1). In addition to Lok Sabha elections, polling for the remaining 42 of 147 assembly seats in Odisha is also taking place on Saturday. Voting will conclude at 6:00pm (12:30 GMT). Voters already in the queue by the time polls close will get to cast their ballots.
Key constituencies in UP
Among the key constituencies is Varanasi, from where PM Modi is seeking a third term. Ajay Rai from the opposition Congress party, supported by the Samajwadi Party (SP), is contesting against him. Another prominent seat is Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, where Afzal Ansari, the brother of the late don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, is running on an SP ticket. Afzal faces a challenge from Paras Nath Rai of the Bharatiya Janata Party. To recall, Mukhtar died in jail in March.
Former Union minister in fray
In Bihar, senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is seeking re-election from Patna Sahib. The Congress, allied with the regional Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), has nominated Anshul Avishek Kushwaha to challenge Prasad. Misa Bharti, daughter of RJD founder and former Chief Minister Lalu Yadav, is once again contesting against Ram Kripal Yadav of the BJP in Pataliputra. Ram Kripal won the elections in both 2014 and 2019.
Kangana entry in political fray
In Himachal Pradesh, Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut is making her political debut from Mandi on a BJP ticket. She faces competition from the Congress's Vikramaditya Singh. Mandi has traditionally been a stronghold of the Singh family. Vikramaditya's late father, Virbhadra Singh, served as the state's chief minister four times and represented the constituency in parliament. However, in 2014 and 2018, the BJP's Ram Swaroop Sharma emerged victorious against Pratibha Singh—Vikramaditya's mother. Pratibha reclaimed the seat in a 2021 bye-election.
Six phases have decided fate of 487 constituencies
The first six phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 487 constituencies out of 543. So far, voting has concluded for all seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Haryana, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, the Andaman and Nicobar islands; and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Ladakh Lakshadweep and Puducherry union territories.
