The last phase of Lok Sabha elections began in full swing on Saturday to decide the fate of 904 candidates, including PM Narendra Modi from Varanasi, across 57 seats in seven states and one Union Territory. The states where voting is being held today are Punjab’s 13 seats, Uttar Pradesh’s 13 seats, West Bengal’s 9 seats, Bihar’s 8 seats, Himachal Pradesh’s all 4 seats, Jharkhand’s 3 seats, Odisha’s six seats, and the lone seat of Chandigarh UT.
The voter turnout till 9 am stood at 11.31%, with Odisha recording the lowest voter turnout and the highest being recorded in Himachal Pradesh.
State-wise voter turnout is as follows:
Bihar 10.58%
Chandigarh 11.64%
Himachal Pradesh 14.35%
Jharkhand 12.15%
Odisha 7.69%
Punjab 9.64%
Uttar Pradesh 12.94%
West Bengal 12.63%
In his poll day message, PM Modi called upon the voters to come out in large numbers to exercise their adult franchise in record numbers to make the “democracy more vibrant and participative”.
Voting began at 7 am and will be held till 5 pm, with an extra hour of buffer period for the ones standing in the queue to vote. Over 10 crore electors, including 5.24 crore men, 4.82 crore women, and 3,574 third-gender voters are eligible to vote in today’s last phase.
Besides PM Modi’s candidature from Varanasi, other key candidates in the fray today include BJP leaders Kangana Ranaut, Ravi Kishan, and Anurag Thakur, Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh, RJD leader Misa Bharti, and TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee.
The Election Commission of India has ensured complete security arrangements, with about 10.9 lakh polling officials being deployed on duty across 1.09 lakh polling stations.
Pertinently, today’s polling will mark a finish to the world’s largest polling marathon that began on April 19, spanning seven phases of polling. Lok Sabha Elections 2024 held over 44 days between April 19 and June 1 is what has been the second-longest elections after the first general elections held in India in 1951-52. The counting of votes will take place on the 4th of June.
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