May 19, 2024 9:15 PM.
All arrangements are in place for the voting of the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections tomorrow. Forty-nine constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories will be covered under this phase.
14 seats of Uttar Pradesh, 13 seats of Maharashtra, seven seats of West Bengal, five seats each of Odisha and Bihar, three seats of Jharkhand and one seat each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will go to polls in this phase. Voting will begin at 7 in the morning and end at 6 PM.
The prominent candidates whose fate will be decided in this phase include BJP leaders and Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and KL Sharma, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, and Chirag Paswan of LJP (Ram Vilas).
Over 9 lakh 47 thousand polling officials will be deployed across 94 thousand 732 polling stations. 35 Assembly Constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly will also go to polls tomorrow.
The 8.95 crore voters eligible to vote in this phase include 4.69 crore male voters, 4.26 crore female voters and 5409 Third-gender electors.
In Maharashtra, all arrangements are in place for the fifth and final phase of polling. Polling will take place in 13 constituencies of the state namely Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane and six parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai. The fate of 264 candidates will be decided by around 2 crore 46 lakh voters. A total of 41,897 Ballot Units and 24,579 Control Units and VVPAT have been arranged. There are 160 critical polling booths in this phase. Webcasting facilities have been established to monitor the polling booths. Adequate security arrangements have been made to prevent any untoward incident.
Keeping in view the low voter turn-out in the previous phases in the state, the Election Commission has made all efforts to motivate citizens to cast their vote. Facilities like drinking water, medical facilities, toilets, waiting rooms, and daycare facilities have been arranged. In Mumbai, around 600 BEST will be provided free of cost to help voters with disabilities reach the polling stations. Speaking to Akashvani News Additional Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, Dr. Kiran Kulkarni urged voters to participate in the polling process and exercise their right to franchise.