New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah urged voters to step out and vote for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections and asked voters to elect a government that has experience in "public welfare" and a "blueprint" for a developed India.
"In the third phase of the Lok Sabha Election, I appeal to all the voters who are going to cast their votes today to accept voting as a duty towards contributing to nation-building. Once again, vote for a corruption-free, caste-free, and dynasticism-free system. Elect a government that has experience in public welfare and a blueprint for a developed India," Amit Shah posted on X.
"Your vote will lay the foundation of good fortune for not only you but also for the entire nation for decades to come," he said. This morning, the Union Home Minister met people at a residential society in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Amit Shah is the party's candidate for the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. Congress has fielded its party secretary Sonal Patel from Gandhinagar.
Shah is seeking his second term from the seat of Gandhinagar. The seat is considered one of the prestigious bastions of the party, it has been represented by veterans like LK Advani. Earlier this morning Prime Minister cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad, Gujarat for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Polling started for 93 Lok Sabha seats across 12 states and union territories in the third phase of the general election today at 7:00 am. The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4).
The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed. In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said.
Voting is not taking place for Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat today as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has postponed the polling to the sixth phase to be held on May 25. Originally, voting was scheduled to be held on 94 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase.
However, elections were rescheduled from the second to the third phase in the Betul Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh due to the death of the BSP candidate. The BJP candidate in Surat has been declared the winner unopposed and due to the revised polling schedule in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat, the total seats now going to poll are 93.
In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4.
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