Lok Sabha elections Phase 5 Live: Voting was held across 49 constituencies across six states and two union territories during the fifth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections today. The polling concluded at 5 pm. Campaigning for the fifth phase concluded on Saturday.
Key candidates in the fray included Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and Smriti Irani from Amethi. The states where polling was held in this round of elections were Uttar Pradesh (14), Maharashtra (13), West Bengal (7), Bihar (5), Odisha (5), and Jharkhand (3). The Union territories were Jammu and Kashmir (1) and Ladakh.
After this phase, voting has concluded on 430 seats. The sixth and seventh phase will take place on May 25 and June 1. The elections, which are being conducted in seven phases, will conclude on June 1. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.
Lok Sabha elections Live: Voting underway in 49 seats across 8 states/UTs. Elaborate security arrangements have been made. Follow Financial Express for all the latest election-related updates.
Defence Minister and BJP candidate from Lucknow, Rajnath Singh, cast his vote at a polling booth in the UP capital. He is up against Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Ravidas Mehrotra from this seat.
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Incumbent BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh from Kaiserganj, accused of sexually assaulting female wrestlers, said, “The people of Kaiserganj are making him (Karan Bhushan Sharan Singh) win with double the number of votes (than last time)…”
Brij’s son Karan Bhushan Sharan Singh got a BJP ticket from Kaiserganj this time.
An argument erupted between the BJP candidate from Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat Arjun Singh and a Trinamool Congress (TMC) worker in North 24 Parganas on Monday during voting for the fifth phase of elections.
Singh alleged that the TMC workers are not letting people come out of their houses to cast their votes.
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Voting on 49 seats across 8 states and Union Territories is taking place today during phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections. The overall voter turnout was recorded at 10.28 per cent. Here’s the state-wise voter turnout data till 9 am:
Bihar – 8.86%
Jammu and Kashmir – 7.63%
Jharkhand – 11.68%
Ladakh – 10.51%
Maharashtra – 6.33%
Odisha – 6.87%
Uttar Pradesh – 12.89%
West Bengal – 15.35%
Polling is underway on the lone seat of Ladakh today, in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024. The constituency is seeing a contest between Congress‘ Tsering Namgyal and BJP‘s Tashi Gyalson.
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Amid the voting for the fifth phase of elections, BJP MP Locket Chatterjee on Monday claimed that a Trinamool booth agent was caught red-handed asking people to vote for her rival candidate from Hooghly, Rachana Banerjee.
“An AASHA worker was made to sit as a booth agent in lieu of money, She has been instructed to ask people to vote for Rachana. She is a Trinamool agent working as an assistant in booths asking people to vote for TMC. There is no other party slip with her,” Chatterjee told ANI.
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Bollywood actress Janhvi Kapoor casts her vote at a polling station in Mumbai. “Please come out and vote, ” she said.
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As the voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections began, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
He took to X (formerly Twitter) and said, “In the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, voting will be held today for 49 seats in 8 states and union territories. I request all the voters of this phase to cast their votes and create a new record of voting. I especially appeal to women and young voters to participate enthusiastically in this festival of democracy.”
After casting his vote, Union Minister and BJP candidate from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, Piyush Goyal said, “The fifth phase of polling is underway in Mumbai and the rest of the country. Just like PM Modi said everyone should take part in the festival of democracy…I believe that the people of Mumbai will come out in large numbers and exercise their right to vote…”
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor, Shaktikanta Das, cast his vote at a polling booth in Mumbai along with his family.
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There are six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, which include Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central and Mumbai South.
Other constituencies that are polling in Maharashtra include Thane, Kalyan, Palghar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik and Bhiwandi.
The elections in Maharashtra are seeing competition between two major alliances: the ruling Mahayuti, which includes the BJP, NCP (led by Ajit Pawar), and a faction of Shiv Sena (led by Eknath Shinde), and the MVA or Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising Sena (led by Uddhav Thackeray), NCP (led by Sharad Pawar), and Congress. Read more
Amid the voting during the fifth phase of elections, Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar said, “I appeal to the voters to participate in this festival of democracy that comes after every five years. ECI has made good arrangements and people should follow ECI’s guidelines… I have seen enthusiasm in people for the BJP, especially in the roadshow of PM Modi. Mahayuti will win all the six seats (in Mumbai)…”
The ruling Mahayuti alliance, the grand alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), pulled out all the stops to win most of the 13 seats in the last phase of elections in Maharashtra today. These seats include ten seats in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and three in north Maharashtra.
Businessman Anil Ambani arrived at a polling booth in Mumbai’s Colaba to cast his vote.
Talking about his son and BJP candidate from Kaiserganj Karan Bhushan Sharan Singh, incumbent BJP MP Brij Bhushan Singh said, “Everyone is happy with his candidature. Karan Bhushan Singh is attached to the youth of Gonda. He is a National player so he is interested in sports as he is in other things…”
Voters queued up outside a polling booth in Nowgam, Jammu and Kashmir. JKNC’s vice president Omar Abdullah, JKPC chairman Sajjad Gani Lone are the the key candidates from this constituency.
Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar cast his vote on Monday at a polling booth in Mumbai during the fifth phase of elections.
He said, “…I want my India to be developed and strong. I voted keeping that in mind. India should vote for what they deem is right…I think voter turnout will be good…”
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Key candidates in the fray today include Rahul Gandhi from Rae Bareli, Rajnath Singh from Lucknow and Smriti Irani from Amethi.
Extensive security arrangements have been made for the voting. Around 9.47 lakh polling officials have been stationed across 94,732 polling stations to facilitate voting for over 8.95 crore voters, which includes 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5,409 third-gender electors. To ensure the smooth movement of polling and security personnel, 17 special trains and 508 helicopter sorties have been arranged.