Indians vote in penultimate phase of general elections

mostly By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - India began voting Saturday in the penultimate phase of an ongoing seven-phase mega general election.

Polling is scheduled in 58 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and union territories in the current phase, the Indian Election Commission said late Friday.

States and union territories going to the polls include seats in New Delhi, Haryana and Bihar.

Voting opens at 7 a.m. local time and will end at 6 p.m.

The Commission said more than 111 million voters are eligible to vote in the sixth phase, while over 1 million polling officials will welcome voters across 114,000 stations.

Polling for 42 assembly constituencies for the Odisha legislative assembly will also take place simultaneously, according to the Indian Election Commission.

Starting from April 19 - June 1, voters across the country will elect 543 lawmakers to the lower house of parliament in seven phases of elections.

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.

Amid hot weather conditions prevailing in several areas of the country, the previous phases of elections have mostly seen a considerably lower turnout as compared to the 2019 general elections.

With Saturday’s polls, India will complete polling in 486 parliamentary constituencies out of 543 seats which are set to be elected through the general election.

The last phase is scheduled for June 1 for the remaining 57 parliamentary constituencies.

The counting of votes will take place June 4.