Over 62% polling recorded till 5 pm in LS polls

The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections witnessed over 62% percent voter turnout till 5pm on Monday across 96 constituencies in 10 states and Union Territories.

West Bengal recorded the highest polling with 75.66 percent voter turnout followed by Madhya Pradesh at 68.01 percent. Jammu and Kashmir and Maharashtra were the laggards with 35.75 percent and 52.49 percent polling, respectively.

Andhra Pradesh saw 68.04 percent polling, Bihar 54.14 percent, Jharkhand 63.14 percent, Odisha 62.96 percent, Telangana 61.16 percent, and Uttar Pradesh 56.35 percent.

Andhra votes for Lok Sabha, Assembly polls in single phase:  Phase 4 will see elections being held for the 175-member Andhra Pradesh assembly, along with the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the state.

YSRCP president Jagan (Pulivendula), TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu (Kuppam) and Janasena chief and actor Pawan Kalyan (Pithapuram), among others, are in the Assembly poll race.

AP Congress president and Jagan’s sister YS Sharmila (Kadapa) and BJP state chief Purandeswari (Rajamahendravaram), among others, are in the Lok Sabha poll fray.

The YSRCP is contesting in all 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha segments in the state.

As part of a seat-sharing deal among NDA partners, the TDP was allocated 144 Assembly and 17 Lok Sabha constituencies, while the BJP will contest from six Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly seats. The Janasena will contest two Lok Sabha and 21 Assembly seats.

As many as 454 candidates are in the fray for Lok Sabha and 2,387 for Assembly polls, according to Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer MK Meena.

Telangana: All 17 seats in fray after electrifying campaign: After a high-decibel campaign, including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the top leaders of Congress and BRS, the stage is now set for polling on Sunday to elect 17 Lok Sabha members from the state in a single phase.

The Election Commission has also made arrangements to conduct a bypoll for the Secunderabad (Cantonment) Assembly seat to be held tomorrow.

As many as 625 candidates, including Union Minister and Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, the party’s national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar and senior leader Etala Rajender are among the saffron party candidates while the Congress fielded among others, BRS turncoats Danam Nagender and K Kavya.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking re-election from the party’s bastion of Hyderabad Lok Sabha constituency and the BJP has fielded a political novice but enthusiastic K Madhavi Latha who has begun a spirited campaign.

The former IPS officer RS Praveen Kumar and sitting MP Nama Nageswar Rao, among others, are in the poll fray from former Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao-led BRS.

Apart from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several union ministers including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, and Congress leaders Mallikrajun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy canvassed for their respective party candidates.

Over 3.31 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise in 35,356 polling stations across the state.

Telangana recorded 62 percent voter turnout in the 2019 parliamentary elections. The BRS (then TRS) won nine seats, BJP four, Congress three and AIMIM one seat in the 2019 general elections.

Uttar Pradesh: Akhliesh’s legacy in play as 13 seats go to polls: Voting for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, covering 13 parliamentary constituencies, will take place on Monday, with all eyes on the prestigious Kannauj seat from which Samajwadi Party president and former MP Akhilesh Yadav is seeking re-election.

Another prominent candidate in the fray in this round is Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni, who is contesting from Kheri.

Voting will take place in Shahjahanpur (SC), Kheri, Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Hardoi (SC), Misrikh (SC), Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah (SC), Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur and Bahraich (SC).

A total of 130 candidates are in the poll fray in this phase.

Among the 13 poll-bound constituencies, Kannauj will see a contest between the SP chief and sitting BJP MP Subrat Pathak, while in Unnao, incumbent BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj (Swami Sachidanand Hari Sakshi) is pitted against SP’s Annu Tandon (a former Lok Sabha MP from Unnao).

Of the 13 parliamentary constituencies going to polls in the fourth phase, the BJP has reposed its faith in 11 sitting MPs by giving them tickets, while it has fielded new candidates Ramesh Awasthi from Kanpur and Anand Kumar from the Bahraich-SC seat.

In the INDIA bloc, the SP has fielded candidates from 11 Lok Sabha seats in this phase, while on two seats — Kanpur (Alok Misra) and Sitapur (Rakesh Rathor) — candidates of the Congress are in the fray.

Four BJP candidates—Union minister Teni (Kheri), Rekha Verma (Dhaurahra), Mukesh Rajput (Farrukhabad) and Devendra Singh alias Bhole (Akbarpur)—are eyeing a hat trick, while Rajesh Verma is eyeing a fifth term from Sitapur.

Maharashtra: 11 seats in action: Maharashtra, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the Lower House of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh.

In the fourth phase, polling will take place across 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

These Lok Sabha constituencies are Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed.

In the first phase of voting for the general polls, Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, and Chandrapur were in the fray. The voter turnout in this phase stood at 63.71 percent.

Buldhana, Nanded, Akola, Amravati, Wardha, Yavatmal-Washim, Hingoli and Parbhani went to the polls in the second phase. The final polling percentage in this phase was 62.71 percent.

In the third phase on May 7, voting took place across 11 constituencies – Raigad, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, and Hatkanangle. The voter turnout in this phase stood at 63.55 percent.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats.

Elections to the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20.

West Bengal: Fate of several star candidates to be decided: Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, TMC’s Shatrughan Sinha, Mahua Moitra and Yusuf Pathan, BJP’s SS Ahluwalia and Dilip Ghosh will be among the candidates whose fates will be decided in the EVMs as eight Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal will go to the polls in the fourth phase on Monday.

Spread over Murshidabad, Nadia, Purba Bardhaman, Paschim Bardhaman and Birbhum districts, the problems flagged by voters in these constituencies vary from migrant labour, drinking water supply and drying up of industries, while the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) notification is a bone of contention between the TMC and BJP in some places.

Polling will be held in Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat (SC), Bardhaman Purba (SC), Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur (SC) and Birbhum in West Bengal in the fourth round of the Lok Sabha polls.

Film star-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election from Asansol and is pitted against the BJP’s veteran leader SS Ahluwalia.

In Krishnanagar, the TMC has put up its outspoken leader Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the 17th Lok Sabha last December, against BJP’s Amrita Roy, a member of the Krishnanagar royal family.

Former Bengali cine celebrity Satabdi Roy is seeking a fourth term from the Birbhum seat, which is now shorn of its maverick TMC leader Anubrata Mondal, lodged in Tihar jail in connection with an alleged cattle smuggling case.

Congress’ leader in the outgoing Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, fighting for a sixth consecutive term from Baharampur, is set to see his clout tested in the seat considered his fortress for the last three decades, with the TMC having fielded former Indian cricketer Yusuf Pathan and the BJP’s Nirmal Kumar Saha.

BJP’s former West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh, whose controversial comments on various issues and against TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee have often made headlines, is contesting from Bardhaman-Durgapur, having been shifted by the saffron party from Kharagpur, where he had won in 2019. Trinamool Congress has put up former Indian cricketer Kirti Azad from the seat, while CPI(M) has fielded Sukriti Ghosal.

BJP’s Jagannath Sarkar is seeking re-election from Ranaghat constituency, which has a significant Matua population. The Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been a profound issue of debate here between the saffron party and the TMC.

TMC announced the candidature of Mukut Mani Adhikari for the seat soon after he joined the party, leaving the BJP, of which he was an MLA from Ranaghat Dakshin assembly segment.

Asit Kumar Mal is seeking re-election from Bolpur on a TMC ticket, having been pitted against Priya Saha of BJP and Shyamali Pradhan of the CPI (M).

In Bardhaman Purba, TMC fielded psychiatrist Sharmila Sarkar against BJP’s folk singer candidate Ashim Kumar Sarkar, who is the saffron party’s MLA from Haringhata Assembly segment, and CPI(M)’s Nirav Kha.

Jharkhand: Four reserved seats in fray: The stage is set for voting in Jharkhand’s four Lok Sabha constituencies—Singhbhum, Khunti, Lohardaga and Palamu—on Monday amidst heavy security deployments in all polling booths.

Of the four Lok Sabha seats, three are reserved for Schedule Tribe (ST), while Palamu is reserved for Schedule Caste (SC) candidates.

Interestingly, the number of female voters is higher than the number of male voters in three tribal seats.

More than 64.37 lakh electors, including 32.07 lakh female voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the four constituencies in the state, an election official said.

A total of 45 candidates, including seven from Khunti, 15 from Lohardaga, nine from Palamu and 14 from Singhbhum, are in the poll fray.

An interesting fight is likely in all three tribal seats as the JMM-led ruling alliance and the BJP-led opposition in Jharkhand have put all their efforts into galvanising people’s support in their favour.

In Singhbhum, BJP’s Geeta Kora, who had won the seat on Congress ticket in 2019, has locked horns with INDIA bloc’s Joba Manjhi, who is a JMM MLA from Manoharpur assembly seat.

Khunti is heading for a direct fight between Union Minister and BJP nominee Arjun Munda and the INDIA bloc’s Kalicharan Munda.

The Lohardaga seat might see a triangular contest after JMM’s Bishunpur MLA Chamra Linda filed nomination as an Independent candidate against BJP’s Samri Oraon and INDIA bloc’s Sukhdeo Bhagat.

The Palamu seat is set for a direct fight between the BJP’s sitting MP Vishnu Dayal Ram and RJD’s Mamta Bhuiyan as INDIA bloc candidate.