Voters in 49 constituencies across 6 states and 2 Union Territories are casting their ballots, determining the political futures of numerous prominent leaders, including Union Ministers and party heads such as Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi, Chirag Paswan, and Omar Abdullah.
Here are the highlights of the Lok Sabha Election Phase 5 Voting:
– Voting took place in various seats across Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
– This phase marks the conclusion of the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra and Ladakh, with an average turnout of 56.7% recorded by 5 pm.
– Simultaneously, voting occurred for 35 seats in the Odisha Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats in the state.
Despite its smaller scale, this phase features many high-profile constituencies contested by Union Ministers and leaders from national and regional parties. In the previous 2019 elections, the BJP secured victory in 32 out of the 49 seats.
Notably, intense battles are anticipated in West Bengal’s seven seats and Maharashtra’s 13 seats, particularly within the Shiv Sena stronghold where a clash between Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction and former CM Uddhav Thackeray’s faction is expected.
In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP has historically dominated, winning 13 out of 14 seats in contention today, with the exception of Raebareli, held by Sonia Gandhi.
Key contenders include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar, Smriti Irani, and Rajnath Singh, as well as opposition figures like Rahul Gandhi, Rohini Acharya, and Arvind Sawant.
In Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah faces competition from the PDP, People’s Conference, and Awami Ittehad Party.
The subsequent phase, the penultimate one, comprising 58 seats, is scheduled for May 25, encompassing the national capital Delhi and neighboring Haryana. Vote counting will take place on June 4.
