Sixth phase: Voting in 58 seats across 6 states and 2 UTs today

New Delhi: The sixth and second-to-last phase of the Lok Sabha elections is scheduled for Saturday, with 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories, including all seven seats in Delhi and the Jangal Mahal region in Bengal, set to cast their votes.

In addition to Delhi, voting will take place in 14 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 in Haryana, eight each in Bihar and West Bengal, six in Odisha, four in Jharkhand, and one in Jammu and Kashmir. At the same time, 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha will also hold elections.

The electorate comprises over 11.13 crore voters, including 5.84 crore males, 5.29 crore females, and 5120 third-gender individuals. The Election Commission (EC) has arranged for approximately 11.4 lakh polling officials to oversee the voting process at 1.14 lakh polling stations.

Given the ongoing heatwave across large parts of India, the EC has instructed election officials and state machinery to implement sufficient measures to mitigate the impact of the hot weather.

Notable candidates include Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Rao Inderjit Singh, and Krishan Pal Gurjar, BJP’s Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Lal Khattar, and Manoj Tiwari, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, and Congress’s Deepender Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar, and Kanhaiya Kumar.

The EC has encouraged voters to participate in large numbers and vote responsibly and with pride. It has specifically urged voters in urban areas such as Delhi, Gurugram, and Faridabad to exercise their “right and duty to vote and break the trend of urban apathy”.

The fifth phase witnessed a voter turnout of 62.2 per cent across the 49 seats that went to polls on May 20.

In West Bengal, the tribal belt Jangal Mahal region, which spans five districts, will hold voting. This region, a hub for identity politics, sends eight representatives to the Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. In the 2019 polls, the BJP won five of these eight seats, while the TMC secured three.

Soumendu Adhikari, brother of Suvendu Adhikari, is contesting from Kanthi, a stronghold of the senior BJP leader. In Tamluk, former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, representing the BJP, is up against TMC’s Debangshu Bhattacharya, who composed the “Khela Hobe” song for the party in the 2021 Assembly polls.

A keen contest is expected in Delhi, where the BJP and the INDIA bloc partners are engaged in a direct, one-on-one contest across all seven seats.

This is the first instance of the AAP and the Congress fielding joint candidates against the BJP. The AAP is contesting four seats, while the Congress has candidates on the remaining three seats.

The AAP has nominated Kuldeep Kumar for the East Delhi seat, Mahabal Mishra for West Delhi, Somnath Bharti for New Delhi, and Sahi Ram Pahalwan for South Delhi.

The Congress has put forward J P Agarwal for Chandni Chowk, Kanhaiya Kumar for North East Delhi, and Udit Raj for North West Delhi constituency.

The BJP’s candidates include Manoj Tiwari for North East Delhi, the only incumbent MP from Delhi that the party has re-nominated; Ramvir Singh Bidhuri for South Delhi, Bansuri Swaraj for New Delhi, Harsh Deep Malhotra for East Delhi, Yogendra Chandolia for North West Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal for Chandni Chowk, and Kamaljeet Sehrawat for West Delhi.

The constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that are going to polls include Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr, and Bhadohi.

From Sultanpur, BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi is vying for her ninth entry into the Lok Sabha. The former Union minister is competing against the Samajwadi Party’s Ram Bhual Nishad and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Uday Raj Verma.

In Azamgarh, incumbent MP Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua is hoping to retain the seat for the BJP against the Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav.

Jaunpur will see former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh of the BJP contest against Samajwadi Party candidate Babu Singh Khushwaha and the incumbent MP Shyam Singh Yadav of the BSP.

Around 82.16 lakh voters, including 40.09 lakh females, are eligible to cast their votes in the constituencies of Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi, and Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.

From Ranchi, Congress’s Yashaswini Sahay, daughter of former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, is contesting against the BJP’s incumbent MP Sanjay Seth. Dhanbad is heading for a direct fight between BJP’s Baghmara MLA Dulu Mahato and Congress’s Anupama Singh, wife of the party’s Bermo legislator Kumar Jaimangal.

A direct contest is also likely in Jamshedpur between BJP’s incumbent MP Bidyut Baran Mahato and JMM’s Baharagora MLA Samir Mohanty. In Giridih, AJSU Party’s Chandra Prakash Chaudhary is up against JMM’s Tundi MLA Mathura Mahato.

Haryana is witnessing a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress on most seats. Besides Union ministers Singh and Gurjar and former chief minister Khattar, and Congress’s Kumari Selja, Hooda, and Babbar are among the candidates.

Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini is contesting the Karnal byelection.

Saini, who is the sitting Kurukshetra MP, was sworn in as the chief minister on March 12, replacing Khattar. Nine candidates are in the fray for the bypoll which was necessitated by Khattar’s resignation as MLA. Also after becoming chief minister, Saini needs to get elected as an MLA within six months.

Twenty candidates including Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference’s Mian Altaf are in the fray from the redrawn Anantnag-Rajouri constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

Multi-layer security arrangements have been put in place in the constituency spread across 18 Assembly segments in Anantnag, Kulgam and Shopian in south Kashmir and Rajouri and Poonch districts south of Pir Panjal.

Polling was originally slated for May 7 but the EC postponed it citing adverse weather conditions. The decision to defer voting by 18 days drew the ire of regional political factions which alleged favouritism towards the BJP-backed Apni Party candidate Zafar Manhas.

In Bihar, 86 candidates are in the fray in the eight seats of Valmiki Nagar, Pashchim Champaran, Purbi Champaran, Sheohar, Siwan, Gopalganj, Maharajganj, and Vaishali.

Of these, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U) is contesting in four, including Sheohar, which was won by the BJP five years ago.

Six parliamentary constituencies of Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Puri, and Sambalpur along with 42 Assembly seats coming under these Lok Sabha segments will also go for polls.