JUST IN: BSP chief Mayawati arrives at a Lucknow polling booth to cast her vote.
Sure to get a clear majority: Rajnath Singh
"We are sure to get a clear majority. However, I can’t predict by what margin, I will win in the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat,” said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after casting his vote a polling booth in Gomtinagar.
JUST IN: VVPAT machines stop working at the polling booth where Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore is waiting to cast his vote. Rathore is standing in the queue to cast his vote, News18 reports.
Update: Two school buildings designated as polling stations set on fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian. Shopian and Pulwama of Anantnag constituency vote today, amid massive security.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh: Today is the polling for 51 Lok Sabha seats including Lucknow in the 5th phase of General Elections. I urge all voters to cast their valuable votes with great enthusiasm and vote in large numbers.
Update: Voting yet to begin in booth numbers 289/ 291/292 in Howrah, reportedly after glitches in EVMs and VVPATs. Details awaited.
JUST IN: BJP India alleges polling agents are not being allowed to sit inside the polling booth at Noapara, Kankinara, and Titagarh in Barrackpore constituency.
Voters of the Sabar tribe in West Bengal’s Bandwan area have called to boycott polling, to protest unavailability of electricity in their houses.
Union Minister and BJP leader Rajyawardhan Rathore was one of the early voters today. He voted in the Jaipur Rural constituency where he is contesting from.
NEWS FLASH: Voting in 51 Lok Sabha constituencies across seven states has begun. This is the fifth phase of polling.
Voting in the fifth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election is set to begin in minutes from now.
Battle for the ‘heart of Hindustan’
This will be the second out of the four phases of voting in Madhya Pradesh. All of these seven constituencies -- Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul -- were won by the BJP in 2014.
The Congress, which came to power in the state in December 2018 after 15 years, is hoping to carry forward the winning momentum.
Jharkhand
While Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha (BJP) is seeking re-election from Hazaribag, former chief minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda is taking on Kalicharan Munda of the Congress in the Khunti constituency.
Jammu & Kashmir
Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is pitted against state Congress president GA Mir in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency where polling is being held in three phases due to security reasons.
In Ladakh, there are four candidates in the fray -- Tsering Namgyal of the BJP, Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two Independents. (PTI)
Battle for Bihar
Of the five seats in Bihar heading for polling today, Hajipur and Saran are considered pocket boroughs of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), respectively. The other three constituencies are Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani.
Both, Paswan and Prasad, are not in the fray, but their parties are making all-out efforts to retain their influence there.
West Bengal
It is a four-cornered contest between the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the seven constituencies spread across three districts in West Bengal. TMC had won all the seven seats in 2014.
The Bangaon Lok Sabha seat will witness an interesting battle between sitting MP Mamata Bala Thakur of the Trinamool and her nephew Shantanu Thakur of the BJP. They hail from the numerically strong Matua community, which both parties are trying to woo.
Former Olympians Rajyawardhan Rathore (BJP) and Krishna Poonia (Congress) have locked horns in the Jaipur Rural seat. Rathore is a Union Minister.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said he was confident not just of his own victory but also of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
In Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Union Minister and former IAS officer Arjun Ram Meghwal (BJP) is facing a tough fight from his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal, a former IPS officer.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Meghwal said, "This is the fight of ideology and I have my family which is BJP, supporting me.”
JUST IN: BSP chief Mayawati arrives at a Lucknow polling booth to cast her vote.
Sure to get a clear majority: Rajnath Singh
"We are sure to get a clear majority. However, I can’t predict by what margin, I will win in the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat,” said Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh after casting his vote a polling booth in Gomtinagar.
JUST IN: VVPAT machines stop working at the polling booth where Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore is waiting to cast his vote. Rathore is standing in the queue to cast his vote, News18 reports.
Update: Two school buildings designated as polling stations set on fire in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian. Shopian and Pulwama of Anantnag constituency vote today, amid massive security.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh: Today is the polling for 51 Lok Sabha seats including Lucknow in the 5th phase of General Elections. I urge all voters to cast their valuable votes with great enthusiasm and vote in large numbers.
Update: Voting yet to begin in booth numbers 289/ 291/292 in Howrah, reportedly after glitches in EVMs and VVPATs. Details awaited.
JUST IN: BJP India alleges polling agents are not being allowed to sit inside the polling booth at Noapara, Kankinara, and Titagarh in Barrackpore constituency.
Voters of the Sabar tribe in West Bengal’s Bandwan area have called to boycott polling, to protest unavailability of electricity in their houses.
Union Minister and BJP leader Rajyawardhan Rathore was one of the early voters today. He voted in the Jaipur Rural constituency where he is contesting from.
NEWS FLASH: Voting in 51 Lok Sabha constituencies across seven states has begun. This is the fifth phase of polling.
Voting in the fifth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha election is set to begin in minutes from now.
Battle for the ‘heart of Hindustan’
This will be the second out of the four phases of voting in Madhya Pradesh. All of these seven constituencies -- Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Satna, Rewa, Hoshangabad and Betul -- were won by the BJP in 2014.
The Congress, which came to power in the state in December 2018 after 15 years, is hoping to carry forward the winning momentum.
Jharkhand
While Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha (BJP) is seeking re-election from Hazaribag, former chief minister and BJP candidate Arjun Munda is taking on Kalicharan Munda of the Congress in the Khunti constituency.
Jammu & Kashmir
Former chief minister and PDP president Mehbooba Mufti is pitted against state Congress president GA Mir in the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency where polling is being held in three phases due to security reasons.
In Ladakh, there are four candidates in the fray -- Tsering Namgyal of the BJP, Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two Independents. (PTI)
Battle for Bihar
Of the five seats in Bihar heading for polling today, Hajipur and Saran are considered pocket boroughs of Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan-led Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Lalu Prasad Yadav-led Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), respectively. The other three constituencies are Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani.
Both, Paswan and Prasad, are not in the fray, but their parties are making all-out efforts to retain their influence there.
West Bengal
It is a four-cornered contest between the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the seven constituencies spread across three districts in West Bengal. TMC had won all the seven seats in 2014.
The Bangaon Lok Sabha seat will witness an interesting battle between sitting MP Mamata Bala Thakur of the Trinamool and her nephew Shantanu Thakur of the BJP. They hail from the numerically strong Matua community, which both parties are trying to woo.
Former Olympians Rajyawardhan Rathore (BJP) and Krishna Poonia (Congress) have locked horns in the Jaipur Rural seat. Rathore is a Union Minister.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said he was confident not just of his own victory but also of the ruling BJP at the Centre.
In Rajasthan’s Bikaner, Union Minister and former IAS officer Arjun Ram Meghwal (BJP) is facing a tough fight from his cousin and Congress candidate Madangopal Meghwal, a former IPS officer.
In an interview with Moneycontrol, Meghwal said, "This is the fight of ideology and I have my family which is BJP, supporting me.”