Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 Voting: About 26% of voters cast ballots for the 57 seats up for grabs in the final and seventh phase of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 till 11 a.m., according to the Election Commission of India on Saturday.
Voting for the final round of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 has begun at 7 am and will determine the fate of 904 candidates, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, across fifty-seven seats in seven states and one UT.
Himachal Pradesh witnessed a voter turnout of approximately 32 percent by 11 am, with Jharkhand following closely at 30 percent. Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal recorded around 28 percent turnout, while Bihar saw about 24 percent participation by the same time. Chandigarh UT had a turnout of approximately 25 percent by 9 am, according to the Election Commission of India.
Earlier in the day, the PM urged voters to turn out in huge numbers and vote. I hope that young and female voters utilize their rights in historic numbers. He remarked, Let us work together to make our democracy more vibrant and participative.”
Today, the seventh phase of voting is underway in several states across India. These include Punjab, with all 13 seats up for grabs, Uttar Pradesh with 13 seats, West Bengal with 9 seats, Bihar with 8 seats, Himachal Pradesh with all 4 seats, Jharkhand with 3 seats, Odisha with six seats, and the solitary seat of Chandigarh Union Territory. -Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 Voting
Voting commenced at 7 am. Among the candidates contesting today, besides PM Modi, are BJP figures Kangana Ranaut, Ravi Kishan, and Anurag Thakur, Congress representative Vikramaditya Singh, RJD’s Misa Bharti, and TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee, among others.
In addition to the Lok Sabha polls, elections are taking place for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha. The tally of votes is scheduled for June 4th.
In today’s phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, over 10 crore electors are eligible to vote, comprising 5.24 crore men, 4.82 cr women, and 3,574 third-gender voters.
The Election Commission announced that approximately 10.9 lakh polling officials have been deployed for duty across 1.09 lakh polling stations.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, out of the 57 seats voting in the seventh phase today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured victory in 25 seats, while the Congress managed to win only eight of these seats.
The voter turnout for the sixth phase of polling, conducted on May 25, stood at 63.37 percent, slightly lower than the turnout of 64.4 percent recorded in 2019. Conversely, in the fifth phase held on May 20, the voter turnout was 62.15 percent, which marked an from the 2019 turnout of 61.82 percent in the same seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, the voter turnout for the fourth phase of polling, conducted on May 13, was 69.16 percent. In the third phase held on May 7, the turnout was 65.68 percent. The second phase on April 26 witnessed a turnout of 66.71 percent, while the first phase on April 19 saw a turnout of 66.1 percent.
Today’s polling marks the conclusion of the world’s largest polling marathon, which commenced on 486 Lok Sabha seats and six stages have already been covered as of April 19. Vote counting is slated for June 4th. The Lok Sabha Elections 2024, spanning 44 days from April 19 to June 1, constitute the second-longest elections in India’s history, following the inaugural general elections held in 1951-52.
Also Read: Exit polls
400 seats is the target that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has set for itself in this election as it seeks to win a record third term with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incumbent alliance faces opposition parties, primarily led by the Congress, united under the banner of the INDIA bloc.