India begins voting in phase 5 of general elections

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) – Voting kicked off Monday in the fifth phase of India’s general elections.

Polling is taking place in 49 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and union territories, according to Indian election authorities. Elections for 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha state are taking place simultaneously.

The states which are going to polls in the fifth phase are Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal and union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

From April 19 to June 1, voters across the country will elect 543 lawmakers to the country’s lower house of parliament in the seven phases of India’s elections.

The sixth and seventh phases will take place on May 25 and June 1 respectively, while the counting of votes will take place on June 4.

In the first four phases, India completed polling for 379 seats.

The election is primarily a battle between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition alliance called INDIA headed by the Indian National Congress.

The election has witnessed aggressive campaigning, with the main opposition Indian National Congress party accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of hate speech against Muslims. Modi, however, has denied the allegations.

Amid the hot weather in the country, the previous phases of the election saw a lower turnout at the polls compared to 2019.

“Until now, the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections have seen voter turnout at polling stations of about 66.95%. Around 451 million people have already voted during the first four phases of the ongoing general elections,” the commission said in a statement ahead of the fifth phase of voting.

It said that cities like Mumbai, Thane and Lucknow are going to the polls in this phase “which have in the past suffered from urban apathy in voting.”

In the Monday elections, over 89 million voters are eligible to vote, for which 94,732 polling stations have been set up at several places. Voting will open at 7 a.m. (0130GMT) and end at 6 p.m. (1230GMT).

The prominent candidates in the fray on Monday include top opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who is seeking a third term from Lucknow, the capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state.