Enthusiastic start to Delhi voting in penultimate round of LS polls
To beat the heat, early voters formed queues outside polling booths in the national capital in the first few hours to exercise their franchise. The turnout till 12 noon was around 30 percent.
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The penultimate round of Lok Sabha elections in 58 constituencies spread over six states and two Union territories saw an enthusiastic start in Delhi where stakes are equally high for the BJP and the rival INDIA bloc.
To beat the heat, early voters formed queues outside polling booths in the national capital in the first few hours to exercise their franchise. The turnout till 12 noon was around 30 percent.
In the sixth phase, as many as 889 candidates are in the fray in these 58 Lok Sabha constituencies where voting began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
The key contestants include Dharmendra Pradhan (BJP) from Sambalpur (Odisha), Manoj Tiwari (BJP) and Kanhaiya Kumar (Congress) from North East Delhi, Maneka Gandhi (BJP) from Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP) from Anantnag-Rajouri (Jammu & Kashmir), Abhijit Gangopadhyay (BJP) from Tamluk (West Bengal), and BJP's Manohar Lal Khattar (Karnal, Haryana), Naveen Jindal (Kurukshetra) and Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon).
Over 11.13 crore voters -- 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5,120 third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Election Commission has deployed around 11.4 lakh polling officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations.
Till now, voting has been completed in 25 states and Union territories and 428 constituencies out of 543. The last phase of polling is scheduled on June 1 and counting of votes will be done on June 4.
Besides the seven seats in Delhi, polling will be held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats in Haryana, 8 each in Bihar and West Bengal, 6 in Odisha, 4 in Jharkhand and one in Jammu and Kashmir.
An interesting fight is on the cards in Delhi with the BJP and the INDIA bloc partners pitted in a direct, one-on-one contest in all the seven seats. This is the first time the AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP. While the AAP is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates on the remaining three seats.
With large parts of India sweltering under a heat wave, the EC has directed election officials and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.
The poll panel also urged voters to come out in greater numbers and vote with responsibility and pride. It particularly reminded voters in urban centres like Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad about their "right and duty to vote and break the trend of urban apathy". The fifth phase saw a voter turnout of 62.2 per cent in the 49 seats that went to polls on May 20.
In West Bengal, voting will be held in the tribal belt Jangal Mahal region, spanning five districts. A hotspot for identity politics, the region sends eight representatives to Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls.
Haryana is witnessing a direct fight between the ruling BJP and opposition Congress on most seats.
In Jammu and Kashmir, 20 candidates including Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference's Mian Altaf are in the fray from the redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri constituency. Multi-layered security arrangements have been put in place in the constituency.
In Bihar, 86 candidates are in the fray in the eight seats, four of which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) is contesting.
In Odisha, 42 Assembly constituencies under Sambalpur, Keonjhar, Dhenkanal, Puri, Bhubaneswar and Cuttack Lok Sabha constituencies are also going to polls in the third phase of Assembly elections being held in the state simultaneously with the sixth phase of general elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge urged voters to exercise their right to franchise in the penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections in large numbers.
With large parts of India sweltering under a heatwave, the poll panel has directed election officials and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.
