Final showdown: Last Phase of voting for 57 LS seats today
NEW DELHI: Voting will be held on Saturday in the seventh and final phase of polling on 57 Lok Sabha seats across seven states and one Union Territory.
The final phase of polling will bring the curtains down on the marathon poll process that stretched for nearly two months and witnessed extreme weather conditions of sweltering heat waves in many parts of the poll-bound constituencies in the country.
Today’s polling will be held for all of Punjab’s 13 seats, four in Himachal Pradesh, 13 in UP, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, three in Jharkhand and one in UT of Chandigarh. This polling cycle has a number of heavyweights in the fray with the focus remaining on Prime Minister Narendra Modi who is contesting for the third time in a row from Varanasi.
Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of Odisha and bypolls to six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh will also take place simultaneously on June 1.
Other prominent candidates among the total 904 contestants in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur from Hamirpur in Himachal, Mamta Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee from Diamond Harbour, Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti from Patliputra, actor Kangana Ranaut of BJP from Mandi in Himachal. Also in the field are ex-Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi in Jalandhar, Harsimrat Kaur Badal of SAD in Bhatinda in Punjab, and Ravi Kishan of BJP in Gorakhpur.
Over 10.06 crore citizens, including nearly 5.24 crore men, 4.82 crore women and 3,574 third gender electors are eligible to vote in this phase.
Saturday’s voting will end the polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories. The assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim also went to polls. All eyes will now be riveted on June 4 when the counting of votes will be taken up.
According to Election Commission guidelines, television channels and news outlets will be able to run exit poll data and its results on June 1 after 6.30 pm.
The EC said polling parties have been dispatched along with machines and poll materials to their respective polling stations. At the 1.09 lakh polling stations, basic facilities including ample shade, drinking water, ramps, and toilets are being provided to ensure that polling takes place in a comfortable and secure environment, it said.
The poll panel has also directed CEOs and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted.
The commission called upon voters to turn out in greater numbers and vote with responsibility and pride.
The turnout in the first six phases was 66.14 per cent, 66.71, 65.68, 69.16, 62.2 and 63.36 per cent respectively.
The campaigning for the last phase which ended on Thursday evening saw BJP leaders, led by PM Modi, addressing election meetings and sharply attacking the Congress and the INDIA alliance on several fronts like corruption, anti-Hindu, appeasement and dynastic politics.
The Opposition parties have accused the BJP of being anti-farmer, anti-youth and having a sinister design of changing the Constitution if they secure a majority in the elections.
On Thursday evening, Modi headed to Kanyakumari where he is meditating till June 1 at the site associated with Swami Vivekananda.
Modi had 206 public outreach programmes, including rallies and roadshows, since the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha election schedule on March 16.
The parliamentary seats where polling will take place in Uttar Pradesh are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC), spread across 11 districts.
Uttar Pradesh which sends the maximum number of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha is seeing a direct contest between the BJP-led NDA and the coalition of INDIA bloc members Samajwadi Party and Congress.
