President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday exercised his franchise at a polling booth in the Rashtrapati Bhawan here as voting was underway in 59 Lok Sabha constituencies across seven states.Kovind was accompanied by his wife.This is the sixth and penultimate round of the mega seven-phased electoral exercise.

As polling for the seven Lok Sabha seats were underway in the national capital on Sunday, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, former Union Minister Ajay Maken and MLA Arvinder Singh Lovely exercised their franchise. Gambhir is pitted against Lovely and the Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi from East Delhi, while Maken is in the fray from the New Delhi seat against outgoing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Meenakshi Lekhi and the AAP’s Brijesh Goyal.Maken cast his vote at a polling booth in the Rajouri Garden, while Gambhir and Lovely voted in Gandhinagar and old Rajendra Nagar areas, respectively.

After voting, Lovely told the media that issues like lack of sanitation, pollution, public mode of transport were among the major problems in East Delhi. Hitting out at the outgoing BJP MP Maheish Girri, who was denied a ticket ticket this year, the Congress leader said: “The biggest problem that the people faced in last five years was the non availability of their MP. Even the BJP while denying ticket to Girri said that he did not meet the people of his constituency.”And people are expecting the same from Gambhir. So people living across the Yamuna have got the opportunity to elect someone who is a local and that is why I am saying that this election has become the election of the people.”Polling is on for the Chandni Chowk, East Delhi, New Delhi, North East Delhi, West Delhi, South Delhi, North West Delhi seats.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday appealed to people to vote but cautioned them against supporting those who indulged in the politics of “spreading hatred” and blocked Delhi’s development.On Twitter, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader told voters that their votes should go to those who worked for them. “Your vote can change the country.”Earlier, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia greeted all seven candidates of the AAP in Delhi.Voting began on Sunday across 59 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over seven states, largely in the Hindi heartland. This is the sixth round of the seven-phase electoral exercise.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Sunday went walking to the polling booth near his residence here on Sunday and voted in the Lok Sabha election.Accompanied by SPG personnel and mediapersons, Gandhi exercised his franchise at a booth on Aurangzeb Lane in the New Delhi constituency.Congress candidate Ajay Maken accompanied Gandhi. The BJP has fielded incumbent MP Meenakshi Lekhi and Aam Aadmi Party Brijesh Goyal in New Delhi.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Sunday voted in the Lok Sabha election in which the Congress is trying to oust the BJP-led NDA government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Gandhi voted at a polling booth in Nirman Bhavan in the heart of Delhi.Gandhi was accompanied by former Chief Minister and Delhi Congress President Sheila Dikshit, who is contesting from the North East Delhi parliamentary constituency against state BJP chief Manoj Tiwari and Aam Aadmi Party’s Dilip Pandey.In 2014, the BJP won all the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi.

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