Voting is in progress for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections. Overall, more than 36.73 % voter turn out has been recorded in this phase till 1 PM. Forty-nine Parliamentary Constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories are being covered in this phase. These include, 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, five each in Odisha and Bihar, three in Jharkhand along with one each in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Polling is also taking place in Odisha for the second phase of assembly elections for 35 Constituencies.
Assembly by elections are also being held for Gandey seat in Jharkhand and Lucknow East constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Voting started at 7 this morning and will conclude at 6 in the evening. Our correspondents touring different constituencies report long queues of voters at different polling booths. Special enthusiasm is being seen among youth and women voters.
Six hundred and ninety-five candidates are in the fray in this phase. The prominent candidates whose fate is being decided today include BJP leaders and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and KL Sharma, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, and Chirag Paswan of LJP (Ram Vilas).
The Election Commission has made all arrangements for smooth and transparent polling. Over 9 lakh 47 thousand officials have been deployed across 94 thousand 732 polling stations. Facilities like water, sheds, ramps, volunteers and wheelchairs are available at the polling stations.
So far polling for 379 Parliamentary Constituencies across 23 States and Union Territories has concluded, recording a total voter turnout of nearly 67 per cent.
