AMN / WEB DESK
Voting concluded by and large peacefully for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections today. Overall, nearly 57 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 PM. Forty-nine Parliamentary Constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories were 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 and one each in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Polling also took place in Odisha for the second phase of assembly elections for 35 Constituencies.
Assembly by-elections were also held for the Gandey seat in Jharkhand and Lucknow East constituency in Uttar Pradesh.
Six hundred and ninety-five candidates were in the fray in this phase. The prominent candidates whose fate was 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).
A maximum of 14 seats went to polls in Uttar Pradesh in this phase. Voting was also held for the by-election in Lucknow East Assembly seat today.
In the fifth and final phase of polls in Maharashtra, an average of 48.66 percent voting was reported till 5 pm. Dindori registered a maximum of 57.06 percent voting while Kalyan recorded the lowest of 41.70 percent polling. Key contestants from the BJP include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar, and Kapil Patil, along with lawyer Ujjwal Nikam. Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad are also among the prominent candidates. The primary contest is between the ruling Mahayuti alliance comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP, and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance comprising Shiv Sena – UBT, Congress, and NCP – SP.
In Bihar, polling was held in Hajipur, Madhubani, Saran, Muzaffarpur and Sitamarhi Parliamentary Constituencies amid tight security arrangements. According to the Chief Electoral Office, voters from two segments in Aurai and Gaighat in Muzaffarpur parliamentary constituency staged a protest and boycotted the election at two polling booths.
In Jharkhand, the three parliamentary constituencies namely Chatra reported 60.26 per cent voting, 61.60 per cent polling was recorded in Koderma and Hazaribagh recorded 63.66 per cent voting. With this, the fate of 54 candidates has been sealed in the EVMs.
Addressing a press conference after polling, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Dr. Neha Arora said that a total of 22 ballot units, 16 control units and 87 VVPATs were replaced in the three parliamentary constituencies.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission today said that the Baramulla parliamentary constituency is heading for the highest voter turnout in the last 8 Lok Sabha elections. Voter turnout of 54.21 per cent was recorded as of 5 PM in the districts of Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora and Budgam.
There were 22 candidates in the fray in this constituency.
In Odisha, more than 60 per cent voting was recorded by 5 this evening in the fifth phase of elections which was held in the state for five Lok Sabha and 35 Assembly constituencies. The five parliamentary constituencies where polling was held are Kandhamal, Sundagarh, Bargarh, Balangir and Aska and all the assembly seats under these constituencies. The voting was by and large peaceful, barring an incident where one auto-rickshaw driver was murdered at Sarsara in Bargarh Lok Sabha constituency while he was carrying a few persons to the polling booth. However, the Election Commission has said that the incident was not linked to polling. There was another incident where two political groups clashed in Beruabadi gram panchayat under the Bhanjanagar assembly constituency while polling was on.
Today’s polling sealed the fate of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is contesting from both Hinjli and Kantabanji assembly constituencies, his six council of ministers, two former union ministers Jual Oram and Dilip Ray, four former state ministers and several sitting MPs and MLAs. In the 2019 elections, the BJP had won three of the Lok Sabha going for polls today; Sundergarh, Bargarh and Balangir, while the ruling BJD won 2 Lok Sabha seats, Aska and Kandhamal. Out of the 35 assembly seats going for polls today, the ruling BJD had won 26 seats, while BJP and Congress won 4 each and CPI (M) in one assembly constituency.
Voting was peaceful in West Bengal today. People have participated in large numbers to vote. Voting has ended peacefully in all 7 Parliamentary constituencies covering 3 districts of West Bengal today under the 5th phase of election. They are Bongaon, Barrackpore, Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly and Arambagh. There were reports of influencing voters and banishing polling agents from some booths in some constituencies. Security forces have promptly taken all those situations under their control. Rain had disrupted voting for some time in the noon in all the constituencies but the Commission had taken corrective measures very fast.