Phase-V voting: Around 60pc turnout till 5pm in 49 LS seats
Today's poll will decide the fate of several prominent leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Around 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union Territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections amid sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and poll boycott in a village of Uttar Pradesh.
EVM glitches were also reported in some booths of Odisha and West Bengal.
While Maharashtra recorded the lowest voter turnout till 3 pm with 38.77 per cent voters exercising their franchise, West Bengal recorded the highest voting percentage of 62.72. Among other states Bihar recorded 45.33 cent turnout, Jammu and Kashmir 44.90 per cent, Jharkhand 53.90 per cent, Odisha 48.95 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 47.55 per cent and Ladakh 61.26.
Scattered incidents of violence marred the polls in seven parliamentary constituencies of West Bengal where TMC and BJP workers clashed.
Voting began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
Today's poll will decide the fate of several prominent leaders like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah.
Over 8.95 crore people, including 4.26 crore females and 5,409 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in this round and 9.47 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 94,732 polling stations.
Among the seats going to polls, 13 are in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha, one in J-K and the lone seat in Ladakh. This round covers the least number of seats (49) in the seven-phase polls.
Voting is also being held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates.
Polling for 23 states and Union territories and 379 seats has been completed so far. The sixth and seventh phases are on May 25 and June 1 respectively. The counting of votes is on June 4.
