Voting began on Monday 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/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 BJP 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.
Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Election in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled following excess use of money power. Results will be declared on May 23.
Uttar Pradesh: Polling underway in in 14 Lok Sabha seats
Amid reports of EVM glitches, nearly 10 per cent turnout was recorded Monday in the first two hours of polling in 14 Lok Sabha seats of UP where Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi are in the fray.
Among early voters in the state capital included Home Minister Singh, BSP supremo Mayawati, Deputy CM Dinesh Sharma and DGP OP Singh.
Election officials here said polling was going on smoothly, barring some complaints of EVM malfunctioning, which were attended to immediately to ensure voting was not hampered.
In the first two hours, maximum of 11.11 per cent voting was witnessed in Sitapur, while Lucknow recorded 8.78 per cent. Raebareli and Amethi witnessed 9.95 per cent and 8.17 per cent turnout respectively, EC officials said.
The BJP had bagged 12 of these seats in 2014 with the Congress winning Rae Bareli and Amethi.
Polling was underway in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda constituencies where a total of 182 candidates are in the fray.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on five seats - Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj. Its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) is fighting for seven seats -Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda.
The Union Home Minister is seeking re-election from Lucknow. His main competitor is SP's Poonam Sinha, wife of actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha. Meanwhile, Union Smriti Irani is again taking on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
In the Faizabad parliamentary constituency, under which the temple town of Ayodhya falls, sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is taking on Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Khatri is a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief.
Former Union Minister and Congress candidate Jitin Prasad is contesting from Dhaurahra against former Chambal brigand Malkhan Singh. Malkhan, 76, has been fielded by Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia, floated by SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother Shivpal Yadav.
Voters queue up at polling booths in Rajasthan
Over 13 per cent turnout was recorded in the first two hours of polling on Monday in 12 Lok Sabha seats of Rajasthan where two former Olympians are among the 124 candidates in fray.
The highest voter turnout till 9 AM was in Ganganagar (SC) (15.18 per cent), followed by Dausa (ST) where the voter turnout was 14.40 per cent. Polling began at 7 AM in Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur.
16 of the total 134 candidates are women. 23,783 polling stations have been set up in 12 constituencies where 2.30 crore voters are registered.
Two former Olympians, a former IAS officer and a former IPS officer are among the candidates whose fate will be decided by voters. Jaipur rural, Bikaner, Dausa, Alwar are some of the keenly watched constituencies among the 12 seats.
Former Olympians Rajyavardhan Rathore, Union Minister of State, and Krishna Poonia are in contest in Jaipur rural constituency. While the sitting MP Rathore is banking on the Modi factor and highlighted national security as the key issue, Congress MLA Poonia questioned works done by Rathore. The seat, which Rathore won with a margin of 3.32 lakh votes in 2014, is dominated by Jat community, a caste to which Poonia belongs.
Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is facing a tough fight from his cousin brother and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal in Bikaner. He is a former IAS officer while Madangopal Meghwal is a former IPS officer. Nagaur is the seat where BJP’s alliance partner and former BJP leader Hanuman Beniwal, the founder of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), is contesting election against Congress candidate and former MP Jyoti Mirdha.
Two ‘sants’, Sumedhanand Saraswati and Baba Balaknath, are trying their luck from Sikar and Alwar constituencies respectively. In Alwar, Congress candidate and former union minister and ex-royal Bhanwar Jitendra Singh is in the poll fight. In Dausa, both the BJP and Congress candidates are women. BJP has fielded former MP Jaskaru Meena against Congress candidate Savita Meena, the wife of sitting Congress MLA Murari Meena.
Rajasthan has a total of 25 Lok Sabha seats and 13 of them went to poll on April 29.
Jammu and Kashmir: Polling underway in Shopian, Pulwama districts
Polling was underway in Shopian and Pulwama districts, which are a part of the Anantnag Lok Sabha seat, and in Ladakh constituency of Jammu and Kashmir amidst stringent security arrangements, officials said. The voter turnout is less than 1 per cent till 9 AM
Polling began at 7 AM in Shopian and Pulwama districts and in Ladakh Parliamentary constituency — spread over two districts of Leh and Kargil, the officials said. The polling would end at 6 PM in Ladakh, and 4 PM in Shopian and Pulwama districts.
All arrangements have been put in place for the smooth conduct of polls in these two constituencies going to polls in the last phase of Lok Sabha elections in Jammu and Kashmir.
PDP President Mehbooba Mufti, Congress state president Ghulam Ahmad Mir, former Jammu and Kashmir High Court judge and National Conference candidate Hasnain Masood, BJP’s Sofi Yousuf and Zaffar Ali of the People’s Conference are among the 18 candidates in fray from the Anantnag seat.
Candidates in fray for the Ladakh Lok Sabha seat are Rigzin Spalbar of Indian National Congress (INC), Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of BJP and Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain - both independents.
Officials said stringent and elaborate security arrangements have been put in place in Shopian and Pulwama districts in the restive south Kashmir region to ensure smooth conduct of polling especially. A multi-layered security set-up has been put in place as part of an elaborate security plan for protection of polling booths, handling of law and order problems and thwarting designs of anti-national elements to disrupt the polls. Adequate number of security personnel, along with their mobile bunkers, have been placed in the two districts, they said.
The twin districts of Pulwama and Shopian are spread over six assembly segments comprising Tral, Pampore, Pulwama, Rajpora, Wachi and Shopian.
As many as 695 polling stations have been established across the districts for smooth conduct of elections, the officials said, adding all of them are either hypersensitive or sensitive and a massive security layer has been thrown around polling stations, many of which have been clubbed.
They said these south Kashmir districts have 522,530 electors including 271,127 males, 250,735 females, 657 service electors and 11 transgender voters.
Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency is spread over four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama with 16 assembly segments. The Lok Sabha polls to this constituency are being held in three phases due to security reasons. Anantnag district went to polls on 23 April, while voting in Kulgam district took place on 29 April.
The Ladakh Parliamentary constituency comprises two districts of Leh and Kargil. The Kargil district consists of two assembly segments Kargil and Zanskar while Leh district includes Nubra and Leh assembly segments, the officials said. This constituency has an electoral strength of 174,618 voters - 86752 males, 85,064 females, 2,799 are service voters and 3 transgender voters. 559 polling stations have been set up across the constituency for the smooth conduct of electoral exercise, the officials said.
The Ladakh parliamentary constituency and the two districts of Anantnag constituency have a total electoral strength of 697,148 voters including 357,879 males, 335,799 females, 3,456 service voters and 14 transgender voters, the officials said.
Polling underway in Madhya Pradesh, minor EVM issues at some booths reported
Polling was underway on Monday in seven Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh with minor EVM glitches being reported at some booths, an official said. Till 9 AM, the voter turnout was 12.16 per cent.
Long queues were seen at some booths after the polling began at 7 am, he said.
This is the second phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh, the first phase having been held on April 29. “Polling is going on peacefully across the seven constituencies. Minor issues related to EVMs were reported at some places but they were sorted out,” state’s chief electoral officer V L Kantha Rao told PTI.
Total 15,240 polling booths have been set up across the seven constituencies - Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul - where 1.19 crore people, including 18,822 service voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise. All these seats located in the state’s Bundelkhand region are currently held by the BJP.
Union minister Virendra Singh Khatik and BJP MP Prahlad Patel are among the 110 candidates in the fray.
Lok Sabha elections for 29 seats in the state are being held in four phases. Polling for six seats was held in the first phase on April 29, while eight seats each will go to polls on May 12 and 19. In 2014, the BJP won 27 seats in the state while the Congress bagged two seats. The Congress later increased its tally to three after wresting Ratlam seat from the BJP in a bypoll.
Jharkhand: 12.22 per cent polling till 9 AM
An estimated 12.22 per cent of the 65,87,028 electorate cast their votes till 9 AM in four Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand, in the second phase of polling in the state, an election official said.
Voters queued up before booths in Koderma, Ranchi, Khunti (ST) and Hazaribag constituencies since early morning to elect their representatives from among 61 contestants. Police said there was no untoward incident reported so far from any part of the four constituencies.
The prominent candidates include Union Minister Jayant Sinha, former chief ministers Arjun Munda and Babulal Marandi, former union minister Subodh Kant Sahay and ex-MLA Kalicharan Munda. While Jayant Sinha of the BJP is seeking a re-election from Hazaribag, BJP candidate Arjun Munda is taking on Kalicharan Munda of the Congress in Khunti constituency. Congress candidate Subodh Kant Sahay is facing BJPs Sanjay Seth from Ranchi. Babulal Marandi, the president of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik), is pitted against BJPs Annapurna Devi in Koderma.
Of the total electorate, 31,44,679 are female and 83 belong to the third gender. Polling will be held in 8,834 polling stations till 4 PM amid tight security, the election official said.
Bihar: 8.92 per cent polling till 9 am in 5 seats
An estimated 8.92 per cent of over 87.66 lakh voters exercised their franchise during the first two hours of polling in five Lok Sabha seats of Bihar, an official said.
Polling is underway in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran and Hajipur parliamentary seats amid tight security, with no untoward incident reported from any part of the state, he said.
Saran recorded the maximum turnout at 13 per cent, followed by Madhubani at 9.20 per cent, Sitamarhi at 7.20 per cent and Hajipur at 9 per cent. Muzaffarpur recorded the lowest turnout till 9am at 6.35 per cent, he said.
Barring a few instances of EVM glitches, which was taken care of by the polling officials, polling has largely been peaceful in the five seats, the official said. “The voting process was delayed by around 30 minutes in six polling stations of Saran, two in Madhubani, one each in Sitamarhi and Muzaffarpur constituency due to technical glitches in the EVMs, but the polling officials have attended to the issues,” he stated.
Elaborate security measures have been made for the five Lok Sabha seats, where women and first-time voters were seen queuing up outside the polling booths even before the commencement of the process at 7 AM, the official said.
The Election Commission has appointed 65,000 polling personnel and 4,349 micro observers to carry out free and fair voting in 8,899 booths across the five seats, he said. Arrangements have also been made for helicopters and air ambulance at select places to meet any exigency, he added.
Altogether, 82 candidates are in the fray in the fifth phase of Bihar polls, prominent among them being former union minister and sitting MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy, his rival and RJD candidate Chandrika Rai, LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother and Bihar minister Pashupati Kumar Paras, former Bihar minister Sunil Kumar Pintu.
West Bengal: Over 16 per cent votes polled
Around 16.68 per cent of nearly 1.17 crore voters cast their ballots in the first two hours of polling in the fifth phase in seven Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, officials said.
Some stray incidents of violence were reported from Bangaon, Hooghly and Barrackpore seats, an election official said. “We have sought report from the polling officers posted in these stations. Otherwise the polling so far has been peaceful,” he said.
Of the seven constituencies, Uluberia recorded maximum polling at 20.59 per cent till 9 am, followed by Arambagh (SC) 19.19 per cent, Sreerampore 17.41 per cent, Howrah recorded 16.18 per cent, Hooghly 15.73 per cent, Barrackpore 13.99 per cent and Bongaon (SC) 13.68 per cent, the official said. The ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Congress and Left Front constituent CPI(M) are the main contenders in the seven seats where the fate of 83 candidates will be decided by a 1,16,91,889-strong electorate.
To ensure free and fair polling the seven seats, the Commission has deployed a total of 578 companies of central forces.