Election Phase 5 Live: Polling Begins In 51 Seats With Rajnath, Sonia, Rahul In Fray
Mayawati Casts Her Vote In UP, Voting Begins In Pulwama
Polling Begins
Voting has begun for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha election in 51 constituencies spread across seven states with many political bigwigs, including Rajnath Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Smriti Irani, being in the fray.
About 8.75 crore people will decide the fate of 674 candidates in the fifth of the seven-phase elections.
The Election Commission has set up 94,000 polling stations and booths, and made elaborate security arrangements.
Polling will be held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand. In Jammu and Kashmir, polling will take place in Ladakh constituency and Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag seat.
The stakes are high for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as it had swept 40 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (seven).
With this phase, election will be over in 424 seats and polling in the remaining 118 seats will be held on May 12 and 19.
The BJP had bagged 12 of these seats in 2014 with the Congress winning Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli and Rahul Gandhi's Amethi -- the only two constituencies where the Congress succeeded out of the 80 in the entire state.
Source: PTI
Key Seats To Watch Out For
Bihar
- Madhubani
- Saran
- Hajipur
Jharkhand
- Ranchi
- Hazaribagh
Rajasthan
- Ganganagar
- Bikaner
- Jaipur Rural
Uttar Pradesh
- Sitapur
- Lucknow
- Rae Bareli
- Amethi
- Fatehpur
West Bengal
- Barrackpur
Voting Day
Going into the fifth phase of the 17th Lok Sabha election today, voters from seven states will cast their ballots across 51 seats—the lowest number of Parliamentary constituencies—to choose from 674 candidates. It’s also one of the most important contests as the Gandhi mother-son duo will fight to retain their pocket boroughs.
Since the fourth phase of polling, Mumbai—the country’s financial capital—recorded the highest voter turnout in three decades at 54 percent. That compares with the overall turnout of 63.16 percent. Last week, the Election Commission gave Narendra Modi a fourth clean chit for his comments, the Vivek Oberoi-starrer Modi biopic, PM Narendra Modi, chalked out a release date and Sadhvi Pragya was barred from the campaign trail by the poll panel for 72 hours.
Also, a citizenship status led to a debate, with a plea to debar Rahul Gandhi over his alleged British nationality, while Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar had to clarify his Canadian passport.