New Delhi: High-decibel campaigning powered by rallies and roadshows came to an end at 6 pm on Saturday in 49 Lok Sabha constituencies in eight states/UTs where polling will be held this Monday (May 20) in the fifth phase of general elections. As many as 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha are also going to polls on May 20, with BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik among the candidates.
The fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls will cover 49 constituencies in six states and two UTs including the high-profile Rae Bareli and Amethi seats from where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are in the fray respectively. In addition, all 6 parliamentary seats in Mumbai will also go to the polls, beside 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Among the Lok Sabha seats going to polls are high-profile Rae Bareli and Amethi from where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are in the fray respectively. In Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla, former chief minister Omar Abdullah, who is among 22 candidates in the fray, held a roadshow in Soibugh - a central Kashmir village that was once a hotbed of militancy - on the last day of campaigning.
The process of filing nominations for these 49 began on April 26. The last date of nominations for Phase 5 is May 3. In Phase 5, Maharashtra had a maximum of 512 nomination forms from 13 Parliamentary Constituencies, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 466 nominations from 14 PCs. Average number of contesting candidates in a PC for 5th Phase is 14.
Here is the full list of constituencies that go to poll on May 20:
- 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: LadakhLok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 5 (ETV Bharat)
Key candidates in this phase
Among other prominent candidates in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls are several Union ministers including Rajnath Singh (Lucknow, UP), Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (from Fatehpur, UP) and Shantanu Thakur (Bangaon, WB); LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan, Maharashtra ), and BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD president Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya (both Saran, Bihar).
Gandhi, who has contested from Wayanad in Kerala, is also in the fight for Rae Bareli, a Nehru-Gandhi family pocket borough that was represented by his mother Sonia Gandhi since 2004. The BJP has fielded UP minister Dinesh Pratap Singh.
Security stepped up
Security has been stepped up in West Bengal's seven constituencies, with over 57 per cent of the polling stations identified as sensitive in the fifth phase, the highest till now in this election. Over 60,000 personnel of central forces, besides around 30,000 personnel of the state police, have been deployed, which is more than in the four previous phases in the state, an official said.
Security forces have also intensified vigil in Mumbai, a day before the metropolitan city is set to go into polls in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections The city remains under tight security cover as large-scale spot checks are being carried out by stationary and mobile teams.
Highways and roads have been barricaded as vehicles are being thoroughly inspected during the election period. All six parliamentary seats in Mumbai will go to the polls in the fifth phase of voting on Monday. This includes Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South, Kalyan, and Thane.
With the conclusion of Phase 4, polling for general elections had crossed the halfway mark as it was completed in 23 states/UTs and 379 Lok Sabha constituencies out of 543. The sixth and seventh phases are on May 25 and June 1 respectively. The counting of votes is on June 4.
