Fifth Phase of Lok Sabha Elections To Decide The Electoral Fate Of Several Prominent Leaders

Lucknow: Polling will be held on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two UTs in fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 that will decide electoral fate of several prominent leers like former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani and former J-K chief minister Omar Abdullah.

Over 8.95 crore people, including 4.26 crore females and 5,409 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in this round and 9.47 lakh polling officials have been deployed across 94,732 polling stations.

Among seats going to polls, 13 are in Maharashtra, 14 in Uttar Presh, seven in West Bengal, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand, five in Odisha, one in J-K and lone seat in Lakh. This round covers least number of seats (49) in seven-phase elections.

It is anor important phase for BJP as over 40 of se seats were with National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

On eve of poling, Election Commission on Sunday pointed out that Mumbai, Thane and Lucknow have shown apathy towards voting in past and asked city dwellers re to turn out in higher numbers.

poll authority noted that in past se cities have "suffered" from urban apathy in voting. " Commission especially calls upon se city dwellers to erase stigma by turning out in higher numbers," it said.

So far, last four phases have registered a total voter turnout of 66.95 per cent.

Or prominent candidates include Union ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), Shvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur, UP) and Shantanu Thakur (Bangaon, WB); LJP (Ram Vilas) leer Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan, Maharashtra), and BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD president Lalu Pras'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 candidates.

In Maharashtra, where polling will be held in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, including six in Mumbai, Piyush Goyal, Bharati Pawar (Dindori) and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) are among key nominees of BJP, which has also fielded prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam (Mumbai North Central).

Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan) and city Congress chief Varsha Gaikw (Mumbai North Central) are also among candidates in this phase, which is last for state in this election.

In Uttar Presh, Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Irani (Amethi), Jyoti, Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma (Jalaun) are five Union ministers in fray. Voting will also take place for assembly bypolls to Lucknow East assembly constituency.

Rahul Gandhi, who has contested from Wayan in Kerala, is also in fight for Rae Bareli, a Nehru-Gandhi family pocket borough represented by his mor Sonia Gandhi since 2004. BJP has fielded UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh.

In Amethi, Irani, who h defeated Rahul Gandhi in 2019, is seeking a second term, while KL Sharma, an aide of Gandhi family, has been fielded by Congress.

Senior BJP leer Rajnath Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow. He is up against SP MLA from Lucknow Central Ravidas Mehrotra.

In Faizab Lok Sabha seat, which covers temple town of Ayodhya, electoral contest is mainly between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh, who is seeking a hat-trick, and Awhesh Pras, SP MLA from Milkipur (SC) assembly constituency in Ayodhya.

In Baramulla, besides Omar Abdullah, former separatist Saj Lone, ex-MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias 'Engineer Rashid', currently lodged in Tihar jail, and PDP's former Rajya Sabha member Fayaz Ahm Mir are among 21 ors contesting.

More than 500 centenarians are among 17.37 lakh voters eligible to exercise ir franchise in constituency, with political observers expecting a high turnout on back of huge crowds that thronged election rallies and roshows in first major political battle post abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.

In Lakh, Congress candidate Tsering Namgyal, BJP's Tashi Gyalson, and Independent candidate and NC rebel Haji Hanifa Jan are locked in a keen contest.

Security has been stepped up in West Bengal's seven constituencies which have a history of election-related violence, with over 57 per cent of polling stations identified as sensitive in this phase, highest till now in this Lok Sabha election.

Over 60,000 personnel of central forces and around 30,000 personnel of state police, have been deployed, which is more than in four previous phases in state, an official said.

BJP's Arjun Singh, who has been in and out of saffron party and Trinamool Congress on four occasions in last five years, is taking on West Bengal minister Partha Bhowmick in Barrackpore in a bid to retain seat he won in 2019.

Actor Rachana Banerjee has been fielded by TMC to stop actor and BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee from winning a straight second term from Hooghly.

In Serampore, TMC's sitting MP Kalyan Banerjee is fighting against BJP's Kabir Shankar Bose.

Voting will take place in Saran, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Sitamarhi and Mhubani Lok Sabha seats of Bihar, which are all with NDA.

In Hajipur, primary contest is between Chirag Paswan, whose late far Ram Vilas Paswan h won seat eight times, and RJD's Shiv Chandra Ram, a former MLA and ex-minister in state.

Former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy's bid to score a hat-trick in Saran has been challenged by RJD president Lalu Pras's daughter Rohini Acharya, who h donated her kidney to her far.

Voting in three Jharkhand Lok Sabha constituencies — Chatra, Koderma and Hazaribag — and by-election in Gandey assembly seat, where Kalpana Soren, wife of jailed former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, is contesting, will take place on Monday.

An interesting fight is expected in Koderma Lok Sabha seat where Union Minister and BJP candidate Annapurna Devi is up against Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation nominee Vinod Singh, an MLA from Bagodar assembly constituency.

In Odisha, CM Patnaik is contesting from two assembly segments -- Hinjili under Aska Lok Sabha seat in Ganjam district and Kantabanji under Bolangir parliamentary constituency.

Apart from Patnaik, major contestants include around half a dozen Odisha ministers, BJP's sitting MPs Jual Oram and Sangeeta Singh Deo, BJD MP Achyut Samant and former Indian Hockey captain Dilip Tirkey.

Around 45.1 crore electors have exercised ir franchise in last four phases.

Polling for 23 states and Union territories and 379 seats has been completed so far.

sixth and seventh phases are on May 25 and June 1 respectively. counting of votes is on June 4.