India General Elections: Nearly 60 pc voting in 57 constituencies of 7 states

A voter turnout of 5830 per cent was recorded on Saturday in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha polls the Election Commission ECI said Polling is being held for 57 constituencies spread across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh including Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third consecutive term in the Lok SabhaThe voting is being held in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh nine in West Bengal eight in Bihar six in Odisha and three in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha and bypolls to six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh are also taking place simultaneouslyA voter turnout of nearly 6014 per cent was recorded in Jharkhand Uttar Pradesh logged a polling percentage of 4683 West Bengal 5846 Bihar 4295 and Himachal Pradesh 5841 Chandigarh registered a voting percentage of 5261 and Odisha recorded around 4977 per cent voting Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from West Bengal as TMC and BJP workers clashed in various parts of the Jadavpur and Diamond Harbour constituenciesA confrontation erupted in Bhangar within the Jadavpur constituency between Trinamool Congress TMC and Indian Secular Front ISF supporters as the parties alleged that their polling agents were stopped from entering booths and crude bombs were being hurled from both sides Police intervention ensued triggering further protests as both factions continued to accuse each otherTo quell the situation security personnel resorted to a lathi charge and seized several crude bombs Voting began at 7 am Voters were seen standing in queues in front of polling booths since early in the morning despite severe heatwave conditions in several parts of the country Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to people to exercise their franchise ldquoTogether letrsquos make our democracy more vibrant and participativerdquo the Prime Minister said on XldquoToday is the final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections As 57 seats across 8 states and UTs go to the polls calling upon the voters to turnout in large numbers and vote I hope young and women voters exercise their franchise in record numbersrdquo he added Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjeersquos nephew Abhishek Banerjee RJD supremo Lalu Prasadrsquos daughter Misa Bharti and actor Kangana RanautMore than 1006 crore citizens including nearly 524 crore men 482 crore women and 3574 thirdgender electors are eligible to vote in this phase Saturdayrsquos voting will mark the end of the marathon polling process that began on April 19 The assemblies of Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim also went to polls The counting of votes will be taken up on June 4 In Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim the counting for the Assembly polls will be held on June 2According to the ECrsquos guidelines television channels and news outlets will be able to run exit poll data and its results after 630 pm on these days The poll panel has called upon voters to turn out in greater numbers and vote with responsibility and pride The turnout in the first six phases of the general election was 6614 per cent 6671 per cent 6568 per cent 6916 per cent 622 per cent and 6336 per cent respectivelyThe campaigning for the last phase which ended on Thursday evening saw ruling Bharatiya Janata Party BJP leaders led by Modi accusing the Congress and the INDIA opposition bloc of being corrupt antiHindu and engaging in loot appeasement and dynastic politics The opposition parties have been claiming that the BJP is antifarmer antiyouth and will change and scrap the Constitution if it wins the electionPolling is also being held in eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Bihar along with the bypoll to the Agiaon Assembly seat Union minister RK Singh and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad are among the contestants in the frayThe Dumka Rajmahal and Godda seats in Jharkhand are going to polls in this phase All eyes are on Dumka where the BJPrsquos Sita Soren the sisterinlaw of jailed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren is contesting against the INDIA blocrsquos Nalin Soren Sita Soren a threeterm former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha JMM legislator joined the BJP just ahead of the Lok Sabha pollsPolling is being held for six Lok Sabha and 42 Assembly seats in Odisha Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik the governmentrsquos chief whip Prashant Muduli Odisha BJP chief Manmohan Samal and BJP national vicepresident Baijayant Panda are among the candidates in the fray Voting is also being held for the Dum Dum Barasat Basirhat Jaynagar Mathurapur Diamond Harbour Jadavpur Kolkata Dakshin and Kolkata Uttar seats in West BengalSeveral heavyweight candidates including incumbent Trinamool Congress TMC MPs Sudip Bandyopadhyay Sougata Roy and Mala Roy former Union minister Debasree Chaudhuri of the BJP and senior CPIM leader Sujan Chakraborty are in the fray Voting is underway in 13 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh which sends the highest number of 80 members to the Lok Sabha among all the statesIn Punjab INDIA bloc allies mdashthe Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party AAPmdashare contesting the election separately while the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal SAD are fighting the polls on their own for the first time since 1996This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever