The Election Fee of India (ECI) is poised to conclude the ultimate part of the world’s largest polling train on June 1, 2024. This concluding part, Part-7, will see elections in 57 Lok Sabha constituencies throughout eight states and union territories, alongside 42 Meeting constituencies in Odisha. The ECI has acknowledged that it has meticulously ready for this ultimate part, overlaying roughly 10.06 crore electors and over 1.09 lakh polling stations throughout the states of Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The counting of votes is scheduled for June 4th.
A statement launched by the ECI highlighted the excellent preparations in place. “Polling events have been dispatched together with machines and ballot supplies to their respective polling stations,” it learn. “Polling stations are able to welcome the voters with all fundamental amenities together with ample shade, ingesting water, ramps, and bathrooms to make sure that polling takes place in a snug and safe atmosphere.”
Regardless of difficult climate situations, voter turnout has been sturdy all through the earlier phases, with feminine voter participation surpassing male turnout within the final two phases, the ballot physique acknowledged. The ECI has urged voters to take part actively. “The Fee has referred to as upon voters to prove in better numbers at polling stations and vote with accountability and pleasure,” the assertion added.
Voting begins at 7 AM, with ballot timings various throughout constituencies. Roughly 10.9 lakh polling officers will facilitate the voting course of. Voters demographics embody round 5.24 crore males, 4.82 crore females, and three,574 third-gender electors.
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Following is the complete listing of constituencies going to ballot on June 1:
- Bihar: Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Arrah, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat, Jahanabad
- Himachal Pradesh: Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, Shimla
- Jharkhand: Rajmahal, Dumka, Godda
- Odisha: Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur
- Punjab: Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, Patiala
- Uttar Pradesh: Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushi Nagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Robertsganj
- West Bengal: Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar
- Chandigarh: Chandigarh
Uttar Pradesh
13 essential Lok Sabha seats, together with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, are set to go to the polls within the ultimate and seventh part of the overall elections on Saturday. Uttar Pradesh, which contributes 80 members to the Decrease Home of Parliament, has undergone a phased polling course of spanning all seven phases of the election.
Concurrently, the bypoll for the Duddhi (ST) meeting constituency in Sonbhadra district may even happen. Six candidates are vying for the seat, which grew to become vacant after BJP MLA Ram Dular was disqualified following his conviction in a rape case.
The parliamentary constituencies the place polling will happen embody Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, and Robertsganj (SC), overlaying 11 districts.
Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a direct contest between the BJP-led NDA and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc coalition, consisting of the Samajwadi Occasion and Congress. Other than Prime Minister Modi, who’s searching for a 3rd time period from Varanasi, there are 143 different candidates within the fray.
Among the many notable seats are Varanasi, Gorakhpur—represented 5 instances by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath—Chandauli, Maharajganj, and Mirzapur. Union ministers Mahendra Nath Pandey, Pankaj Chaudhary, and Anupriya Patel are contesting from these seats, respectively. Moreover, Ghazipur sees Afzal Ansari, brother of the late Mukhtar Ansari, competing, whereas Neeraj Shekhar, son of former Prime Minister Chandrashekhar, is within the race from Ballia.
Of the 144 candidates on this part, 134 are males and 10 are girls, with 11 normal class seats and two SC reserved seats.
Key allies of the BJP, such because the NISHAD Occasion and Om Prakash Rajbhar’s SBSP, have fielded candidates on this part. Anupriya Patel of the BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is searching for re-election.
Mayawati’s BSP has additionally fielded candidates, together with in Varanasi and Gorakhpur.
State Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa acknowledged there are 2,50,56,877 eligible voters within the 13 Lok Sabha seats for the seventh part, together with 1,33,10,897 males, 1,17,44,922 girls, and 1,058 transgender people, information company PTI reported. He confirmed that polling events had departed for his or her respective centres on Friday.
Rinwa additionally talked about that carrying cell phones or wi-fi units inside polling cubicles is prohibited on polling day, June 1. Given the warmth, enough provides of ORS and medical kits shall be obtainable at polling stations, together with preparations for chilly water and correct shade.
West Bengal
South Bengal, a conventional stronghold of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), heads to the polls on Saturday. The area faces a major electoral battle that checks the social gathering’s dominance amid an ‘previous versus new’ energy wrestle. With nationwide consideration on Sandeshkhali in Basirhat as a result of allegations of atrocities in opposition to girls and land grabs, the stakes are excessive.
The seventh and ultimate part of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal will cowl Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jayanagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar. Within the 2019 elections, the TMC secured victories in all these constituencies. The leads to these 9 seats shall be essential for the TMC’s continued dominance within the area, because the social gathering faces challenges from the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) and the Left-Congress alliance.
A complete of 1.63 crore voters—83.19 lakh males, 80.20 lakh girls, and 538 belonging to the third gender—are eligible to vote in 17,470 polling stations on June 1. Among the many 124 contestants on this part, Kolkata Dakshin has the very best quantity with 17 candidates, adopted by Jadavpur with 16, and 15 every in Basirhat and Kolkata Uttar.
A number of high-stakes battles are set to unfold on this part. Notably, TMC heavyweight Abhishek Banerjee, thought of the social gathering’s de facto quantity two, is contesting from Diamond Harbour once more. Banerjee’s efficiency on this seat, which the TMC touts as a ‘mannequin constituency’, shall be carefully watched because the opposition makes an attempt to color it as a ‘laboratory of violence’. The 2-time MP faces CPI(M)’s Pratikur Rahaman and BJP’s Abhijit Das in a three-way contest.
The minority-dominated Basirhat Lok Sabha seat, and particularly the Sandeshkhali section, has garnered nationwide consideration as a result of allegations of atrocities in opposition to girls and land grabs by native TMC leaders. The BJP has capitalised on these points by nominating Rekha Patra, a outstanding native protestor, in opposition to TMC veteran Haji Nurul Islam. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s private name to Patra earlier than her marketing campaign has added momentum to her candidacy. The CPI(M) has fielded former MLA Nirapada Sardar, making this a three-cornered contest.
In Kolkata North, seasoned parliamentarian and three-term TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay faces a troublesome problem from Tapas Roy, a four-time TMC MLA who switched allegiance to the BJP. This contest epitomises the inner wrestle throughout the TMC, with Bandyopadhyay representing the previous guard and Roy symbolising the brand new wave of leaders. The Left-Congress nominee Pradip Bhattacharya can also be within the fray.
Equally, within the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, sharp adjustments within the electoral panorama in comparison with 5 years in the past could bolster incumbent TMC MP Saugata Roy’s possibilities in opposition to a harder BJP problem. With CPI(M) fielding central committee member Sujan Chakraborty, a well known determine in state politics, a triangular contest emerges, doubtlessly benefiting Roy, whereas BJP’s candidate Shilbhadra Dutta, a former Trinamool MLA, additional intensifies the competitors.
In Kolkata Dakshin, TMC veteran Mala Roy is up in opposition to BJP’s former union minister Debasree Chaudhuri. The TMC has fielded Saayoni Ghosh, an actor and president of the social gathering’s youth wing, in Jadavpur, the place she faces stiff competitors from CPI(M)’s Srijan Bhattacharya and BJP’s Anirban Ganguly. The Jadavpur seat is traditionally vital for the TMC, because it was from right here {that a} younger Mamata Banerjee first made her mark by defeating CPI(M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee in 1984.
The South Bengal area has historically been a TMC fortress, with the social gathering profitable 30 out of 31 seats in South 24 Parganas, 29 out of 33 in North 24 Parganas, and all 16 seats in Kolkata within the 2021 meeting elections. The BJP’s marketing campaign has centered on problems with corruption, girls’s security, and resistance to political muscle-flexing, which they consider resonate strongly in constituencies like Basirhat. The TMC, however, is banking on its developmental work and the charisma of its leaders to retain its dominance. The Left-Congress mix, armed with veteran candidates similar to Sujan Chakraborty and first-timers like Srijan Bhattacharya, goals at breaking the TMC-BJP binary and reclaiming its relevance in Bengal politics.
For this part of polling, the Election Fee has determined to deploy 960 firms of central forces to make sure safety and stop any untoward incidents, PTI reported.
Punjab
Punjab is witnessing a multi-cornered contest in all 13 Lok Sabha seats. The I.N.D.I.A. bloc allies—the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP)—are contesting the polls individually, whereas the Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are preventing independently for the primary time since 1996. The Sukhbir Badal-led SAD walked out of the BJP-led Nationwide Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020 over the now-repealed farm legal guidelines.
Moreover the Congress, AAP, SAD, and the BJP, two different events, SAD (Amritsar) and the Bahujan Samaj Occasion (BSP), have additionally fielded their candidates. All six events are contesting all 13 seats in Punjab on Saturday. The Union Territory of Chandigarh may even go to the polls on the identical day.
Distinguished leaders like former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, three-time MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, and four-time MP Preneet Kaur.
Among the many outstanding faces, BJP nominee and four-time MP Preneet Kaur is searching for re-election from the Patiala constituency. In Bathinda, three-time MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal (SAD) and BJP’s Parampal Kaur Sidhu, a former IAS officer, are vying for votes. Former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi (Congress) and BJP nominee Sushil Rinku are contesting from the Jalandhar reserved constituency.
Former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa (Congress) and BJP candidate Dinesh Babbu are preventing from Gurdaspur. Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring is up in opposition to BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu in Ludhiana. Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who’s at the moment in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail beneath the Nationwide Safety Act (NSA), is contesting from Khadoor Sahib. Former diplomat and BJP nominee Taranjit Singh Sandhu faces Congress candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla in Amritsar.
The AAP has fielded 5 cupboard ministers amongst its 13 candidates: Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Amritsar), Laljit Singh Bhullar (Khadoor Sahib), Gurmeet Singh Khuddian (Bathinda), Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer (Sangrur), and Balbir Singh (Patiala).
Congress candidate Sukhpal Khaira is contesting from Sangrur, whereas AAP’s Karamjit Singh Anmol and BJP’s Hans Raj Hans are within the fray from Faridkot. SAD (Amritsar) chief Simranjit Singh Mann can also be contesting from Sangrur, and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, one of many assassins of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, is contesting from the Faridkot reserved constituency.
Within the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress gained eight of the 13 seats. The SAD and the BJP, then allies, gained two seats every, whereas the AAP secured solely the Sangrur seat. Following the Sangrur and Jalandhar bypolls in 2022 and 2023, the Congress holds seven seats, the SAD and the BJP two every, and the AAP and the SAD (Amritsar) one every.
In Chandigarh, BJP candidate Sanjay Tandon is pitted in opposition to Congress nominee and former Union Minister Manish Tewari.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C acknowledged on Friday highlighted that 328 candidates, together with 26 girls, are contesting in Punjab, whereas 19 candidates, together with two girls, are contesting in Chandigarh, PTI reported.
A complete of two,14,61,739 voters, together with 1,01,74,240 girls and 773 transgenders, are eligible to vote in Punjab. In Chandigarh, there are 6,59,805 eligible voters, together with 3,18,226 girls and 35 third-gender people. For the 13 Lok Sabha seats, 24,451 polling stations have been arrange, with 16,517 in villages and seven,934 in cities.
Round 70,000 safety personnel, together with central forces, have been deployed. Moreover, 1.20 lakh polling employees have been assigned.
In mild of the warmth wave, provisions similar to ingesting water, shades, ‘chabeel’ (sweetened water), medical kits, and oral rehydration options have been organized at polling stations. A voter queue info system has been launched, permitting voters to verify queue lengths at their polling cubicles. The goal is to realize greater than 70 per cent voter turnout in Punjab, the CEO acknowledged, as per PTI.
Himachal Pradesh
The political destiny of 37 candidates for 4 Lok Sabha seats and 25 nominees in six Meeting bypolls in Himachal Pradesh shall be sealed in voting machines on June 1. The 4 Lok Sabha constituencies in competition are Hamirpur, Mandi, Kangra, and Shimla.
Concurrently, bypolls are being held in six Meeting segments: Sujanpur, Dharamshala, Lahaul and Spiti, Barsar, Gagret, and Kutlehar. The survival and stability of Congress social gathering’s 17-month-old authorities additionally hinge on the result of the Meeting bypolls. ALSO READ | Himachal Meeting Bypolls: Essential Take a look at For CM Sukhu As Voting On 6 Seats Set To Resolve Destiny Of His Govt
BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Mandi, Bollywood actor Kangna Ranaut, and Congress candidate and state Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh had been on the forefront, participating in a sequence of controversial exchanges.
Distinguished figures similar to Union Data and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, searching for his fifth time period from Hamirpur, and former Union minister Anand Sharma, operating from Kangra, face vital stakes.
A complete of 57,11,969 voters, together with 29,13,075 males, 27,98,859 girls, and 35 third-gender individuals, will decide the destiny of those 62 candidates. The political panorama of Himachal Pradesh is poised for vital change because the state heads to the polls.
Bihar
The ultimate part of the Lok Sabha elections in Bihar is about for Saturday, with over 1.6 crore voters poised to resolve the destiny of 134 candidates throughout eight parliamentary constituencies. The stakes are notably excessive for the BJP, which goals to retain its maintain on 5 of those seats that contributed considerably to its state-wide tally of 17 within the earlier elections.
Among the many high-profile constituencies is Patna Sahib, the place veteran BJP parliamentarian Ravi Shankar Prasad seeks a second consecutive time period. His predominant challenger is Congress spokesperson Anshul Avijit, whose political lineage contains former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Deputy Prime Minister Jagjivan Ram.
Within the neighbouring Patliputra, RJD president Lalu Prasad’s eldest daughter, Misa Bharti, is attempting her luck for the third time in opposition to BJP’s Ram Kripal Yadav, who goals for a hat-trick. The BJP hopes the presence of AIMIM candidate Mohd Farooq Raza, endorsed by social gathering chief Asaduddin Owaisi, will divide the RJD’s vote base.
Arrah is one other battleground the place Union Minister RK Singh goals for a 3rd time period. His predominant rival, CPI(ML) Liberation’s Sudama Prasad, stands strengthened by the social gathering’s alliance with the RJD and Congress, which noticed it safe a document 12 seats within the final meeting polls. The Arrah constituency additionally features a by-election for the Agiaon meeting section following the disqualification of CPI(ML) MLA Manoj Manzil.
In Nalanda, the house district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, JD(U) sitting MP Kaushlendra Kumar seeks a fourth time period. His principal adversary is Sandeep Saurav, a CPI(ML) MLA and former JNU college students’ union chief.
The multi-cornered contest in Karakat has drawn consideration, particularly with Bhojpuri famous person Pawan Singh contesting as an Unbiased. Singh’s entry, after declining a BJP ticket from Asansol in West Bengal, led to his expulsion from the social gathering. Upendra Kushwaha, chief of the Rashtriya Lok Morcha, hopes to reclaim the seat he misplaced in 2019 after rejoining the NDA.
In Sasaram, the BJP changed two-term MP Chhedi Paswan with Shivesh Ram. The reserved seat, historically a Congress stronghold, is being contested by Congress’s Manoj Kumar, a latest BSP defector.
Jehanabad sees JD(U)’s Chandeshwar Prasad Chandravanshi defending his seat in opposition to RJD’s Surendra Prasad Yadav, whereas in Buxar, BJP has fielded Mithilesh Tiwari, a former MLA, over sitting Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey. Tiwari faces RJD’s Sudhakar Singh, and Unbiased Anand Mishra, a former Assam cadre IPS officer.
Polling will happen at 16,634 stations, with Patna Sahib having the most important voters at 22.90 lakh.
Lok Sabha Elections, Part 7: Residence Voting, Assured Minimal Amenities
Particular provisions for house voting can be found for electors aged 85+ and individuals with disabilities (PwD). 13 particular trains and eight helicopter sorties in Himachal Pradesh have been deployed to move polling and safety personnel, as per the discharge. A sturdy surveillance system with 172 observers, 2,707 flying squads, 2,799 static surveillance groups, and extra items ensures strict vigilance in opposition to any malpractice.
Moreover, stringent measures are in place at 201 worldwide and 906 inter-state border verify posts to observe and stop the illicit motion of liquor, medication, money, and freebies.
Making certain accessibility, polling stations are outfitted with Assured Minimal Amenities similar to water, sheds, bathrooms, ramps, volunteers, wheelchairs, and electrical energy, enabling each voter, together with the aged and PwD, to solid their votes with ease.
Voter Data Slips have been distributed to all registered voters, serving as a facilitation measure and an invite from the Fee to return and vote, though they aren’t obligatory for voting.