New Delhi: Voting for the sixth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections began on Saturday morning across 58 parliamentary constituencies in six states and two Union Territories (UTs).
The sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls included eight seats in Bihar, all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, and eight in West Bengal. A total of 889 candidates are in the fray.
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- 61.20% voter turnout was recorded till in the 6th phase of elections.
- According to the poll body, West Bengal recorded the highest voter turnout (79.47 per cent) followed by Odisha (69.56 per cent), Jharkhand (63.76 per cent), Haryana (60.4 per cent), Delhi (57.67 per cent), Bihar (55.24 per cent), Jammu and Kashmir (54.30 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (54.03 per cent), according to the Election Commission (EC).
- The sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls included eight seats in Bihar, all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, and eight in West Bengal. A total of 889 candidates were in the fray.
- All parliamentary seats in Delhi and Haryana were contested in this phase. Prominent candidates include former Chief Ministers Manohar Lal Khattar and Mehbooba Mufti, with Khattar contesting as the BJP candidate from Karnal and Mufti as the PDP nominee from Anantnag-Rajouri. Other notable candidates are Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi.
- Bansuri Swaraj, Somnath Bharti, Manoj Tiwari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Dinesh Lal Yadav alias ‘Nirahua’, Dharmendra Yadav, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul, Naveen Jindal, Raj Babbar, Deepender Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, and Aparajita Sarangia are also among the prominent candidates. Key seats include New Delhi, North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi, Chandni Chowk, Sultanpur, and Azamgarh. Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri, West Bengal’s Tamluk and Medinipur, Haryana’s Karnal, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, and Rohtak, as well as Odisha’s Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Sambalpur, are some of the other significant constituencies.
- Stakes are high for the BJP, Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and other constituents of the INDIA bloc in this phase of the election. The contest in Delhi sees AAP and Congress jointly taking on the BJP, which won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the last two elections. Congress is contesting three seats in Delhi, while AAP is contesting four.
- The BJP campaign has been bolstered by rallies from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other party leaders. Senior leaders of Congress have also held rallies in the national capital. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, recently released on interim bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise policy case, has been campaigning for AAP and Congress candidates.
- AAP and Congress have also joined forces in Haryana, where BJP won all seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Some seats in Haryana, including Hisar, are witnessing multi-cornered contests involving BJP, Congress, INLD, and Jannayak Janata Party. Haryana will also hold assembly polls months after the Lok Sabha election.
Polling has already been completed in 428 parliamentary constituencies across 25 states and UTs in the first five phases of general elections. Over 11.13 crore voters, including 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female, and 5,120 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in the sixth phase. Approximately 11.4 lakh polling officials are involved in conducting this phase of the election.
More than 8.93 lakh registered voters over 85 years old, 23,659 voters above 100 years, and 9.58 lakh PwD voters have been provided the option to vote from their homes in this phase.
The Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir will also vote tomorrow, following a revised polling date from May 7 to May 25.
The Lok Sabha elections will conclude on June 1 after the seventh phase, with results declared on June 4.
