President Droupadi Murmu, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi were among the voters who exercised their franchise on Saturday as voting in the penultimate phase of the Lok Sabha elections kicked off across six states and two Union Territories. Till 1 pm, 39% per cent voter turnout was recorded, with Delhi seeing 34.37% polling. West Bengal saw the maximum turnout at 54.80%.
Over 11 crore voters will decide the fate of 889 candidates contesting in Phase 6 of the general elections across 58 seats.
Among the prominent candidates in this phase are Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Rao Inderjit Singh, BJP's Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Khattar and Manoj Tiwari, Mehbooba Mufti and Congress's Kanhaiya Kumar.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who is out on interim bail in the liquor policy case, cast his vote along with his wife Sunita Kejriwal in Delhi. "People are voting in large numbers against dictatorship, inflation and unemployment," he said. AAP Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal also voted today, saying women's participation in politics was very important.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported in parts of the eight Lok Sabha constituencies in Bengal that went to polls. Clashes broke out between supporters of the ruling TMC and BJP in the Ghatal and Kanthi. In Ghatal, BJP candidate Hiran Chatterjee claimed TMC goons were creating hurdles in the voting process.
Foreign Minister S Jaishankar voted in Delhi today and got a certificate for being the first male voter at his designated polling booth. "I was the first male voter in this booth," Jaishankar said, holding up his certificate.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and party MP Rahul Gandhi also voted in Delhi. The Congress leaders were seen clicking a selfie as they left the polling station. "Unemployment and inflation are the major issues in the country today," Priyanka said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and BJD leader VK Pandian also cast their votes at different polling booths in Bhubaneswar. "I expect BJD to have a great victory both in the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. We will form a very stable government in the state," Patnaik said.
PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who is contesting the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir, claimed that outgoing calls on her mobile number have been suspended. The PDP also alleged that its workers and polling agents were detained by police ahead of polling.
President Droupadi Murmu, cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir, BJP leader Bansuri Swaraj, Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar were among the early voters who exercised their franchise in Delhi today.
Polling is underway in 58 Lok Sabha seats across Haryana (10), Bihar (8), Jharkhand (4), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (14), West Bengal (8), Delhi (7) and Jammu and Kashmir (1). Polling in 42 Assembly constituencies for the Odisha State Legislative Assembly is also taking place simultaneously.
In 2019, the Congress failed to win any of these 58 seats in Phase 6 of polling. The BJP won 40 seats while its NDA allies won five seats. In terms of vote share, the BJP-led NDA got 51.36 per cent of the vote share. The INDIA bloc parties could manage 28.66 per cent vote share in Phase 6 of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
By the end of this phase, polling on 486 out of 543 Lok Sabha seats will conclude. In the last phase, polling will happen on the remaining 57 seats.
