Lok Sabha elections phase 7: 57 seats vote today, PM Modi among candidates
The mega Lok Sabha election 2024 is set for its final phase on Saturday. Voting for the seventh phase will begin at 7 am across 57 constituencies across eight states and Union territories.
Besides this, 42 constituencies of Odisha assembly will also simultaneously go to polls.
Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab will vote in the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha election.
According to the Election Commission, 10.06 crore voters across 1.09 lakh polling states will exercise their right to vote. The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has exuded confidence of crossing the 400 mark in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is seeking a third straight term in office, is in poll fray from Varanasi in this phase. He had defeated Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal in 2014 and Shalini Yadav of Samajwadi Party in 2019 election. This time, Modi is being challenged by UP Congress chief Ajay Rai, who had also contested against him in the past two elections.
In Uttar Pradesh, 13 constituencies will go to polls. Besides PM Modi, the other high profile candidates include Union minister Anupriya Patel (Mirzapur), Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary (Maharajganj) and Ravi Kishan (Gorakhpur).
In Bihar, eight constituencies will go to polls in the seventh phase. The prominent candidates include Lalu Prasad’s daughter Misa Bharti (Pataliputra), former Union minister and BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad (Patna Sahib) and Upendra Kushwaha (Karakat) and Bhojpuri actor Pawan Singh (Karakat) among others.
Punjab will vote in all 13 constituencies on Saturday. The members of INDIA bloc, Congress and Aam Aadmi Party, are contesting the elections separately. Even Shiromani Akali Dal and the BJP are fighting the elections alone. Preneet Kaur (Patiala), ex-CM Charanjit Channi (Jalandhar) and Shiromani Akali Dal’s Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Bathinda) are among the key candidates.
The other state which has hogged a lot of limelight in this election is Himachal Pradesh, mainly due to actor-politician Kangana Ranaut entering the poll fray. The National Award winning actor is the BJP face from Mandi, contesting against Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh. Union minister Anurag Thakur is seeking a fifth term from Hamirpur, while senior Congress leader Anand Sharma is in fray from Kangra.
At least nine constituencies of West Bengal are voting in the last phase. The Basirhat constituency has gained a lot of prominence as the BJP has fielded Rekha Patra, who filed a complaint in the Sandeshkhali sexual assault case. Trinamool Congress has fielded veteran Haji Nurul Islam. Several Trinamool Congress (TMC) heavyweights including Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee (Diamond Harbour), Sougata Roy (Dum Dum), Sudip Bandopadhyay (Kolkata Uttar) and Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar (Barasat) are in the poll fray.
According to the Election Commission, 13 Special trains and eight helicopter sorties (for Himachal Pradesh) were deployed to ferry polling and security personnel.
The EC added that a total of 2707 flying squads, 2799 static surveillance teams, 1080 surveillance teams and 560 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock to strictly and swiftly deal with any form of inducement of voters.
The Election Commission has reiterated its instructions on not publishing any exit polls until at least half an hour after polls in all states and UTs have ended.