Fifth phase: Voting to be held today in 49 LS constituencies

The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections, which will determine the political future of several notable figures such as ex-Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and former J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah, is set to take place on Monday across 49 constituencies in six states and two Union Territories.

This phase will see over 8.95 crore eligible voters, including 4.26 crore women and 5,409 third-gender voters, casting their votes across 94,732 polling stations, manned by 9.47 lakh polling officials.

The constituencies going to polls include 13 in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha, one in J&K, and the lone seat in Ladakh. This phase covers the smallest number of seats (49) in the sevenphase elections.

This phase is crucial for the BJP as it held over 40 of these seats under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

On the eve of polling, the Election Commission highlighted that cities like Mumbai, Thane, and Lucknow have previously shown a lack of enthusiasm towards voting and urged residents to participate in larger numbers.

The Commission noted that these cities have historically suffered from urban apathy towards voting and called upon the residents to remove this stigma by participating in higher numbers.

The total voter turnout for the previous four phases stands at 66.95 per cent.

Other key candidates in this phase include Union ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur, UP), and Shantanu Thakur (Bangaon, WB); LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan, Maharashtra), and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya (both Saran, Bihar).

Voting will also be held in 35 Assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates.