Polling kicks off for fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections
Polling for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections began at 7:00am on Monday. Forty-nine constituencies are up for grabs across six states and two union territories. They include Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir (Baramulla), Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Polling for 35 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will also take place simultaneously. This election will decide the fate of some of the biggest names in the game, including the likes of Rahul Gandhi.
Key constituencies and candidates in the fifth phase
Gandhi is contesting against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Dinesh Pratap Singh in Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh. Another crucial seat to keep an eye on in UP is Amethi. 2019 winner Smriti Irani is pitted against Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma in this constituency. As many as 14 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 Lok Sabha seats are voting in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Other key candidates in this Lok Sabha Election
In Kaiserganj, the BJP's Karan Bhushan is the party candidate after his father, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, was denied a ticket over sexual harassment charges. Former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter, Rohini Acharya, is also in the fray. She is contesting against the BJP's Rajiv Pratap Ruddy in Bihar's Saran constituency. Meanwhile, actor-turned-politician Chirag Paswan is seeking to establish himself in the political arena. Paswan is up against Shiv Chandra Ram of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in Hajipur.
Piyush Goyal's Lok Sabha election debut
Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal are also in the race for Lucknow and Mumbai North seats, respectively. While Singh is seeking a third term, this Lok Sabha election will be Goyal's first in his 30-year political career. Goyal is facing Congress's Bhushan Patil. High up in Ladakh, a three-way battle is expected between the BJP, the INDIA bloc, and an independent candidate. This lone constituency in the union territory of Ladakh was carved out of J&K in 2019.
Voter turnout in Lok Sabha elections
So far, voting has concluded for all constituencies in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura; the Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and the Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry union territories. The first four phases of the election witnessed voter turnouts of 66.1%, 66.7%, 61%, and 67.3%, respectively. The final two phases will kick off on May 25 and June 1.
