Voting is underway for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections. Fifty seven Lok Sabha constituencies spread across seven states and one union territory are going to poll in this phase. These include, 13 seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine seats in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, three seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Chandigarh. Over 10 crore 60 lakh electors will decide the fate of 904 contestants in the fray. Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly Constituencies of Odisha is also taking place. The voting began at 7 AM and will continue till 6 PM.
Elaborate arrangements have been made by the Election Commission to ensure smooth and transparent voting. Election officers have been instructed to implement measures to mitigate the challenges posed by scorching temperatures, safeguarding the health and well-being of voters and poll officials.
The concluding phase of Lok Sabha polls holds great significance for both ruling and opposition parties. In this phase, political fate of prominent leaders including Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi, Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Congress leader Manish Tiwari and Vikramaditya Singh, RJD leader Misa Bharti, and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee will be sealed in the EVMs. This seventh phase will mark a grand finish to the world’s largest polling marathon that began on 19th of April and already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats. As the nation braces for the end of this electoral marathon, anticipation mounts for the momentous day of reckoning when the fate of political leaders will be determined on 4th June.
In Punjab, polling for all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies began at 7 a.m. today under tight security arrangements. Polling will continue till 6 p.m. For more than 2.14 crore voters in the state, 24 thousand 451 polling stations have been set up. Among these, 16 thousand 517 are located in rural areas, while 7 thousand 934 are in urban areas.
328 candidates including 169 independents are in the fray. Prominent among them are BJP’s Praneet Kaur, Sushil Kumar Rinku, Hansraj Hans, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Congress Party’s Amrinder Singh Rajawaring, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjindar Singh Randhawa and Sukhpal Singh Khehra, Aam Aadmi party’s five cabinet Ministers Gurmit Singh Khudian, Dr. Balbir Singh, Gurmit Singh Meetheyar, Laljit Singh Bhullar and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal. Elaborate arrangements have been made at the polling station to save voters from the current scorching heat wave conditions.
In Jharkhand, amidst tight security arrangements polling is underway in three constituencies Godda, Dumka and Rajmahal. Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. Over 53 lakh 24 thousand electorates will decide political fortune of 52 candidates including eight women. Jharkhand Chief Electoral Officer K Ravi Kumar said a number of measures have been taken at each booth in view of intense heat.
Basic amenities including tent,shed and drinking water have been provided for electorates at all booths so that voting could not be affected due to prevailing heat.Medical facilities have also been provided at booths. Vehicles and wheel chairs are available for elder and divyang electorates. Patrolling has been intensified in sensitive areas to avert untoward incident. Inter district border and border along Bihar and West Bengal have been sealed to check infiltration.
This phase of elections is challenging for both BJP and Indi alliance. Sita Soren, daughter-in-law of Shibu Soren who is contesting from Dumka .She is in direct contest with Nalin Soren of JMM. In Godda constituency, Nishikant Dubey of BJP is facing challenge from Pradeep Yadav of INC. Vijay Hansda of JMM is in direct contest with Tala Marandi of BJP from Rajmahal seat.
In Bihar, polling is underway peacefully in eight parliamentary constituencies of Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Sasaram, Arrah, Karakat, Buxar, Jehanabad and Nalanda under the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections.
Polling is also taking place today simultaneously for bye elections in Agiaon assembly segment in Bhojpur district.
In rural areas, long queues of voters are being seen since early morning.
In view of intense heatwave conditions prevailing in the poll bound areas several arrangements like drinking water facility, shed, seating facility have been made at polling booths. Ambulance services and hospitals are being kept on alert.
More than one crore 62 lakh electorates of these eight parliamentary constituencies will decide the electoral fate of 134 candidates.
All the poll bound areas in this phase fall under Patna commissionary region. In the riverine areas of Arrah, Patna and hilly regions of Sasaram and Karakat parliamentary constituencies’ special vigil is being maintained.
In Buxar, Rohtas and Kaimur districts, the bordering areas along Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand have been sealed till the end of voting to ensure peaceful voting.
Union Minister and BJP candidate RK Singh from Arrah parliamentary seat and former union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib Lok Sabha seat are among prominent candidates in the seventh phase. The electorates will also decide the political fate of former union minister and NDA candidate Upendra Kushwaha who is contesting from Karakat seat.
Famous Bhojpuri singer Pawan Singh is also trying his political fortunes from this seat. The political fate of BJP nominee and former union minister Ram Kripal Yadav and daughter of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Misa Bharti will also be sealed from Pataliputra constituency. Presently all seats of this phase are held by BJP and constituents of NDA. In this phase, out of eight, BJP is contesting on five Lok Sabha seats, JD( U) on two and one seat is being contested by Rashtriya Lok Morcha. From the Grand Alliance, RJD and CPI-ML are contesting on three seats each. Congress has fielded two candidates in this phase.
Polling started at 7 this morning in six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha today. The Lok Sabha constituencies which are going for polls in the state are Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur. Election Commission has made special arrangements for the polling staff and voters considering the intense heat wave condition.
Prominent figures in the fray in this last phase of elections include BJP’s former Union minister Pratap Chandra Sarangi and national vice-president Baijayant Panda, as well as BJD stalwarts Sudam Marndi, Lekhasri Samantsinghar, Manjulata Mandal, and Ansuman Mohanty. Former Union Minister Srikant Jena of Congress and JMM’s Anjani Soren are among the notable contenders among the 66 Lok Sabha candidates competing for victory.
In the Assembly polls which are being held simultaneously in Odisha, BJD’s state ministers Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak and Preetiranjan Gharei, along with party leaders Subhasini Jena and Byomakesh Ray, are in the electoral arena. BJP state president Manmohan Samal and former state Congress president Niranjan Patnaik are the other prominent candidates whose fate will be decided today.
About one crore voters are going to decide the fate of 460 candidates in 6 Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha today by exercising their franchise in 10,882 polling booths. There are 2,57,345 first time voters in this last phase of elections. Long queues are seen since morning with lots of enthusiasm among the rural men and women and first time voters.
The voters are preferring to come in the morning and vote for their most preferred candidate as the heatwave condition in Odisha is in an alarming state. A total of 126 companies of the Central Armed Police Force have been deployed across all the constituencies for a peaceful voting process. The scorching heat conditions and reports of many casualties due to sunstroke, the Election Commission has put Asha workers and volunteers in every polling booth to help the voters.
Arrangements like drinking water, ORS, sheds and treatment for heatwave-affected voters have been made in all the booths across all the constituencies. The Election Commission has banned mobile phones, cameras, headphones and smart watches inside the polling booths.
(With inputs from agencies)
