New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has issued a fervent appeal, especially targeting the youth and women voters, urging them to turn out in large numbers to “strengthen our democracy” as Phase 4 polling of the Lok Sabha elections kicks off. A total of 96 seats, spanning across 9 states and a Union Territory, are up for grabs in this phase.
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The electoral landscape includes all 25 seats of Andhra Pradesh, 17 seats of Telangana, 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 8 in West Bengal, 8 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 in Bihar, 4 seats each in Jharkhand and Odisha, and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
Notable figures like superstars Allu Arjun, Jr NTR, and Chiranjeevi were among the first to cast their votes as the Phase 4 polling commenced on Monday.
In Jammu and Kashmir, voting is underway for the Srinagar seat of the Kashmir Valley, marking the first Lok Sabha election post the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. It’s noteworthy that the BJP has refrained from fielding any candidates in the three Lok Sabha seats of the Kashmir valley.
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The polling hours, as declared by the Election Commission of India, are from 7 am to 6 pm.
With 283 constituencies already having gone to polls in the preceding phases, accounting for nearly half of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, the voter turnout for the third phase on May 7 stood at 65.68 per cent. This figure represents a marginal decline of 1.32 percentage points compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections for the same seats.
A total of 1,717 candidates are contesting in the 96 Lok Sabha seats up for voting today. Among them are prominent figures such as Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav from Kannauj (Uttar Pradesh), TMC leader Mahua Moitra from Krishnanagar (West Bengal), cricketer-turned-politicians Yusuf Pathan and senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary from Baharampur (West Bengal), Union Minister Giriraj Singh from Begusarai (Bihar), YS Sharmila from Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh), Union Minister Arjun Munda from Khunti (Jharkhand), actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha from Asansol (West Bengal), Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Karimnagar (Telangana), and Asaduddin Owaisi from Hyderabad (Telangana).
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The electorate comprises over 17.7 crore individuals, inclusive of 8.97 crore men and 8.73 crore women, with over 12.49 lakh registered voters aged 85 years and above. A workforce of over 19 lakh polling officials has been deployed across 1.92 lakh polling stations where the voting process is underway.
Simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls, voting is also being conducted for all 175 seats of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly and 28 of the 147 seats of the Odisha Legislative Assembly.
The final three phases of polling are scheduled for May 20, May 25, and June 1, with the counting of votes for all seven phases set to take place on June 4.
In this high-stakes electoral battle, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), eyeing a historic third term under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set an ambitious target of securing 400 seats. The ruling alliance faces a formidable challenge from the opposition parties, spearheaded by the Congress, united under the banner of the INDIA bloc.
