Lucknow: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh was among the early voters who exercised their franchisee in phase five of voting which went underway in 51 constituencies spread across seven states.

The BJP candidate from Lucknow cast his vote from Gomtinagar polling station of Lucknow parliamentary constituency, which he won by a margin of more than two lakh votes in 2014.

“I will win in Lucknow… public will decide the margin of victory. I leave it to the people of Lucknow. BJP will get clear majority. NDA might also win 2/3rds majority. I appeal to all voters to come out with family and exercise their right,” Singh, who was accompanied by his family members said after casting his vote at 7.30am.

Singh is contesting against Samajwadi Party-BSP alliance candidate Poonam Sinha, the wife of noted bollywood actor Shatrughan Sinha, and Pramod Krishnan of the Congress.

Polling started at 7 am and long queues, including senior citizens, were seen at several booths in the city even before they opened.

VB Shrivastava, 73, said, “This is a VIP polling booth so we decided to cast our vote at the earliest.”

Fifty one parliamentary constituencies are voting today in the fifth, and the smallest phase of the 2019 general elections. Barring seven seats in West Bengal and Anantnag and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, this phase of election is entirely in Hindi speaking states.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its other National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners had the highest seat share in the seats that are going to polls today.