Lok Sabha Polls Phase 5: Rae Bareli, Amethi, Mumbai, Baramulla, & Ladakh In Focus As 49 Seats Set To Vote
Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 will feature polling in 49 constituencies across eight states and Union Territories. Notable areas include Rae Bareli, Amethi, Mumbai, Baramulla, and Ladakh.
Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 5 Voting: Polling for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 is scheduled to commence on Monday in 49 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) across eight States and Union Territories (UTs). Additionally, 35 Assembly Constituencies in Odisha will hold simultaneous elections for the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed that polling stations have been equipped with essential facilities such as shade, drinking water, ramps, toilets, and other basic amenities to ensure voters' comfort and safety. Special provisions have been made to manage hot weather conditions.
The eight States/UTs participating in Phase-5 are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Notable cities such as Mumbai, Thane, and Lucknow, which have historically experienced low voter turnout, are included in this phase. The ECI specifically calls on these urban residents to break the trend, "Commission specially calls upon these city-dwellers to erase the stigma by turning out in higher numbers."
The voting will commence at 7 AM to 6 PM (timings may vary by constituency) with around 9.47 lakh Polling Officials stationed. Over 8.95 crore, including 4.69 crore male, 4.26 crore female, and 5409 third-gender electors are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Over 7.81 lakh voters are aged 85+, 24,792 voters above 100 years, and 7.03 lakh PwD voters have the option to vote from home.
Here are the 49 Lok Sabha seats going to polls on Monday across eight States and Union Territories:
- Bihar: Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Saran, Hajipur
- Jharkhand: Chatra, Kodarma, Hazaribagh
- Maharashtra: Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North – West, Mumbai North – East, Mumbai North – Central, Mumbai South – Central, Mumbai South
- Odisha: Bargarh, Sundargarh, Bolangir, Kandhamal, Aska
- Uttar Pradesh: Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Kaiserganj, Gonda
- West Bengal: Bangaon, Barrackpur, Howrah, Uluberia, Sreerampur, Hooghly, Arambag
- Jammu and Kashmir: Baramulla
- Ladakh: Ladakh
Uttar Pradesh
The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled for Monday, is set to be a decisive battle for five Union ministers, including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani, alongside Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. Additionally, the assembly bypoll for Lucknow East constituency will be held on the same day.
A total of 2.68 crore voters will decide the fate of 144 candidates contesting in this phase.
Among the prominent candidates, Rajnath Singh is seeking a fourth term from Lucknow, where he faces a challenge from sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Ravidas Mehrotra. Smriti Irani, contesting from Amethi, is in the fray as well.
Other key candidates include Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor from Mohanlalganj, Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur, and Union Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma from Jalaun. Rahul Gandhi, contesting from Rae Bareli, aims to succeed his mother, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
The BJP has fielded 11 sitting MPs in this phase, introducing new candidates only in the Barabanki (SC) and Kaisarganj constituencies. Within the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, Congress candidates include K L Sharma from Amethi, Tanuj Punia from Barabanki (SC), and Pradeep Jain 'Aditya' from Jhansi, while the Samajwadi Party is contesting the remaining seats.
In the Kaisarganj Lok Sabha seat, BJP's Karan Bhushan Singh, son of former MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, faces SP's Bhagat Ram. The Faizabad constituency will see BJP's sitting MP Lallu Singh against SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad.
In Hamirpur, BJP's Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel aims for a third term against SP's Ajendra Singh Lodhi. Gonda's electoral battle pits BJP's Kirti Vardhan Singh, vying for a fifth term, against SP's Shreya Verma. In Banda, RK Singh Patel seeks a third term against SP's Krishna Devi Shivshankar Patel, while Vinod Kumar Sonkar, aiming for a hat-trick, competes with SP's Pushpendra Saroj in Kaushambi (SC).
The Lucknow East assembly bypoll was triggered by the demise of sitting MLA Ashutosh Tandon on November 9, 2023.
Maharashtra
In the fifth and final phase of Maharashtra's general elections, polling will be conducted today in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies, including six in Mumbai. Over 2.46 crore eligible voters will decide the fate of 264 candidates in constituencies such as Mumbai North, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai South, Thane, Kalyan, Bhiwandi, Palghar, Nashik, Dindori, and Dhule.
Key nominees include Union ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Bharati Pawar (Dindori), and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi) from the BJP, which has also fielded lawyer Ujjwal Nikam (Mumbai North Central). Notable candidates from the Shiv Sena include Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan) and city Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad (Mumbai North Central).
Voting will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm across 24,553 polling centres. The main contest is between the ruling Mahayuti alliance, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP, and the opposition alliance of the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP).
Mumbai, Thane, and Palghar, where 10 of these 13 seats are located, form a significant part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, one of the most urbanised areas in the country.
A total of 2,46,69,544 persons are eligible to cast their vote, including 1,31,38,526 men, 1,15,28,278 women, and 2,740 from the third gender.
The Shiv Sena, led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has fielded its candidates in Mumbai South, Mumbai North West, and Mumbai South Central seats, while the ruling BJP has candidates in Mumbai North, Mumbai North Central, and Mumbai North East constituencies. The opposition Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, has put up candidates in Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North East, and Mumbai North West as part of a seat-sharing deal with its Maha Vikas Aghadi partners, NCP (SP) and Congress. Congress candidates are contesting in Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North.
In Thane and Kalyan, where the rival Senas are pitted against each other, these are prestige battles for CM Shinde, as they fall under his political turf. CM Shinde's close aide Naresh Mhaske and his son Shrikant Shinde are the Shiv Sena nominees in Thane and Kalyan, respectively. The contest is between BJP and Sena (UBT) in Palghar, while BJP and NCP (SP) are the main contenders in the textile manufacturing hub of Bhiwandi. Dhule is witnessing a BJP versus Congress fight. In Dindori, it is BJP versus Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), while CM Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) are facing off in Nashik.
To ensure smooth voting in Mumbai, nearly 30,000 security personnel will be deployed, officials said, as per news agency PTI. This includes 2,752 officers and 27,460 other personnel, including three units of the riot control police. Additionally, five officers of the rank of Additional Commissioner of Police, 25 Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs), and 77 Assistant Commissioners of Police (ACPs) will lead various teams during the bandobast. Nearly 5,000 policemen, 6,200 home guards, and 36 units of Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) will also be brought in for the election day, PTI reported.
Polling in 35 of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra has been conducted in four phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, and May 13. Votes will be counted on June 4.
West Bengal
A bevy of high-profile candidates, from ministers to actors, are set to test their luck on Monday as seven Lok Sabha constituencies in the southern part of West Bengal go to the polls in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
In Barrackpore, BJP's Arjun Singh, who has switched between the saffron party and the Trinamool Congress four times in the last five years, is taking on West Bengal minister Partha Bhowmick in a bid to retain the seat he won in 2019.
Actor Rachana Banerjee has been fielded by the TMC to challenge BJP's actor candidate Locket Chatterjee, who is aiming for a second consecutive term from Hooghly.
In Serampore, BJP's Kabir Shankar Bose and CPI(M)'s student leader Dipsita Dhar are vying against TMC's sitting MP Kalyan Banerjee, who is contesting to win this seat for a fourth consecutive term.
Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur of BJP is fighting to retain the Bangaon seat against TMC's Biswajit Das. Das had switched to the Mamata Banerjee-led party after winning the 2021 assembly polls as a BJP candidate from Bagdah, which is situated within this Lok Sabha constituency.
In Howrah, once known as the Sheffield of the East for its numerous factories, footballer-turned-politician Prasun Banerjee is seeking to retain the seat for a third term on a TMC ticket. He faces a tough challenge from BJP's Rathin Chakraborty, a former TMC leader and mayor of Howrah Municipal Corporation, as well as CPI(M)'s lawyer candidate Sabyasachi Chatterjee.
BJP's Arun Uday Pal Chaudhary is contesting to prevent TMC's Sajda Ahmed from winning a third consecutive term in the Uluberia constituency.
In Arambagh, TMC has put up Mitali Bag, replacing its two-term MP Aparupa Poddar, to compete against BJP's Arup Kanti Digar and CPI(M)'s Biplab Kanti Moitra.
A total of 1,25,23,702 voters – 63,51,320 men, 61,72,034 women, and 348 third-genders – are eligible to exercise their franchise in 13,481 polling stations across the seven constituencies. The Election Commission (EC) has identified over 57 per cent of the polling booths as sensitive and decided to deploy over 60,000 central forces, besides 29,172 state police personnel for this phase, according to an official, PTI reported.
Bihar
The fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Bihar will witness voting across five seats, all currently held by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), on Monday. Over 95 lakh voters are poised to decide the fate of 80 candidates in the constituencies of Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saran, and the reserved seat of Hajipur.
Hajipur, with the highest number of 19.67 lakh voters, features a significant contest between Chirag Paswan, representing the NDA, and RJD's Shiv Chandra Ram. Chirag Paswan aims to retain the seat previously held by his late father, Ram Vilas Paswan, who won it eight times. Sitting MP Pashupati Kumar Paras, Chirag's estranged uncle and a former Union minister, is not contesting but has pledged support to the NDA.
In the adjoining seat of Saran, the election pits RJD debutant Rohini Acharya, daughter of party president Lalu Prasad, against former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, the sitting MP who has secured multiple victories for the BJP in this constituency.
Muzaffarpur is another focal point, where sitting MP Ajay Nishad, having switched allegiance to Congress after the BJP declined to back his bid for a third consecutive term, contests against Raj Bhushan Chaudhary, a political newcomer fielded by the BJP. Chaudhary was the runner-up in 2019 under the banner of Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP), now part of the opposition alliance with Congress, RJD, and three Left parties. Muzaffarpur also has the highest number of candidates at 26, including Sudhir Kumar Ojha, a local advocate known for his legal petitions against prominent political figures and celebrities.
Out of the 80 candidates contesting in this phase, six are women. The five constituencies have 45.11 lakh female voters and a significant youth presence, with over 21 lakh voters under 29 years of age, including 1.26 lakh first-time voters aged 18-19 years. Voting will be conducted at 9,436 booths, with more than 8,000 located in rural areas.
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Ladakh
As Ladakh votes to elect its Member of Parliament for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370, issues such as safeguards under the Sixth Schedule, statehood, and employment dominate the agenda across the region's vast expanse. Spanning more than 59,000 square kilometres, approximately 40 times the size of Delhi, the two districts of Leh and Kargil are divided by geography and religion but united in their demands.
In this unique constituency, Buddhist-majority Leh and Shia Muslim-majority Kargil have come together to voice four primary demands: safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, statehood, job reservations for locals, and the establishment of a separate public service commission along with two Lok Sabha seats for the region.
Ladakh, which shares its borders with both Pakistan and China, was reconstituted as a Union Territory without a legislature following the abrogation of Article 370. Initially, Leh welcomed this move, while Kargil opposed it. However, concerns over land and job protections soon took precedence, sparking protests across the region.
Padma Stanzin, a student leader from Leh, highlighted the urgent need for employment opportunities. "Employment is a major concern as not a single recruitment for gazetted posts has taken place since 2019. We were assured better job opportunities, but this has not materialised. The only government recruitments have been for class-4 posts," Stanzin told PTI.
The main political contenders in this election are the BJP, which has fielded Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council Chairman Tashi Gyalson, and the Congress, represented by Tsering Namgyal, the Leader of Opposition in the council. An independent candidate, Mohammad Haneefa Jan from Kargil, known as Haji Haneefa, is also contesting after leaving the National Conference. The Congress manifesto includes promises of safeguards under the Sixth Schedule, while Haneefa's campaign addresses all four key demands. The BJP's manifesto, however, does not mention the Sixth Schedule or statehood, though party leaders have assured continued dialogue on these issues.
Local dissatisfaction with the BJP stems from unfulfilled promises made during the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2020 Leh hill council elections. "We were assured safeguards, but nothing has happened so far. That's why we are demanding the Sixth Schedule to protect our interests. A rally was held on March 3, followed by a fast led by Sonam Wangchuk from March 6," Stanzin recounted. The sit-in protest in Leh, led by renowned educationist and social reformer Wangchuk, lasted 66 days and was suspended ahead of the election.
Ladakh has around 1.84 lakh voters—approximately 96,000 in Kargil and over 88,000 in Leh.
Jammu And Kashmir
Over 17.32 lakh eligible voters are set to cast their ballots in the fifth phase of the general elections in Baramullah on May 20. This election marks the first major political contest in Jammu and Kashmir post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
The outcome will determine the fate of Omar Abdullah, vice-president of the National Conference and former chief minister of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, among 21 other candidates vying for the north Kashmir seat. The Baramulla constituency, spanning 18 assembly segments across the districts of Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora, also includes two segments from Budgam.
According to PTI, officials confirmed that 2,103 polling stations have been established, with 1,859 in rural areas and 244 in urban locations, to facilitate voting.
Abdullah's primary rival is separatist-turned-politician and former minister Sajad Lone, who leads the People's Conference. Awami Ittehad Party's Sheikh Abdul Rashid, commonly known as Engineer Rashid, currently imprisoned in Delhi's Tihar jail on terror-funding charges, has also thrown his hat in the ring. The People's Democratic Party candidate, Fayaz Mir, a former Rajya Sabha member, is also a key contender.
In the 2019 general elections, the constituency recorded a voter turnout of 34.17%, with Kupwara district seeing the highest participation at 51.7%, followed by Bandipora at 31.8%, and Baramulla at 24%. The inclusion of two Budgam segments was recommended by the delimitation commission two years ago.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent two-day visit to Srinagar ahead of the Baramulla polls sparked controversy. Abdullah alleged that Shah's visit aimed to bolster the BJP's proxy parties in the elections. Shah had previously urged Valley residents to support parties other than the National Conference, Congress, and the People's Democratic Party during a visit to Jammu.
"The BJP has not fielded its own candidates, but its 'B', 'C' and 'D' teams… be it the bucket, apple, cricket bat and ink-pot, have been working on its directions," Abdullah stated, referring to the election symbols of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party, People's Conference, Apni Party, and the People's Democratic Party, respectively, as per PTI.
So far, the overall voter turnout for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 stands at approximately 66.95%, with around 451 million people having voted in the first four phases. The remaining three phases of the election will continue until June 1, with the counting of votes scheduled for June 4. In the first four phases, polling for 23 States/UTs and 379 PCs was conducted smoothly and peacefully.
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