Polling is underway for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections. Voting is taking place for 59 constituencies, spread over seven states and one union territory.
In West Bengal, polling was disrupted at some booths due to technical snags in EVMs. Reports of explosions have been received from Deganga under Barasat Parliamentary Constituency. Clashes between ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP were reported at Baduria in Basirhat.
Voting, which began at 7 AM, will end at 6 PM. Polling in this phase is being held for 13 seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, all four constituencies of Himachal Pradesh; three in Jharkhand and lone seat of Chandigarh.
Prominent candidates in this phase include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Ministers – Manoj Sinha, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri. Fate of Mahendra Nath Pandey, Kirron Kher, Sunny Deol and Ravi Kishan of BJP, Sukhbir Badal of Shiromani Akali Dal, Meira Kumar and Shatrughan Sinha of Congress and Shibu Soren of JMM will also be decided in this phase.
Repolling at a booth in the Chandni Chowk parliamentary constituency of Delhi is also being held today. The presiding officer had forgotten to the test votes that were cast during a mock poll before actual polling commenced last Sunday.
Voting is also taking place for by-polls to four Assembly seats each in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal; two Assembly segments in Karnataka; and one Assembly constituency in Goa. In Tamil Nadu, by-poll is being held to Sulur, Ottapidaram, Thirupparankundram and Aravakurichi, while in West Bengal, voting is taking place in Darjeeling, Islampur, Habibpur and Bhatpara. In Karnataka, Chincholi and Kundgol are going to by-polls, while polling is also being held at Panaji in Goa.
Counting of votes for the Lok Sabha and four state assemblies of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim will be taken up on Thursday. The News Services Division of All India Radio has made elaborate arrangements for providing authentic and latest results. For the first time, AIR, the biggest radio network of the country, will continuously broadcast special programme on election results for 40 hours.
In West Bengal, peaceful voting is on for 9 Lok Sabha Seats in the State barring few stray incidents.
These seats are Barasat, Basirhat, Dum Dum in North 24-parganas District and Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour in South 24-Parganas District and Kolkata North and Kolkata South.
The State Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Sajoy Basu told AIR that over 20 per cent polling was recorded till first 3 hours of voting. Our Kolkata Correspondent reports that polling was disrupted in many booths due to technical snags in EVMs. Reports of bombing have also come from Deganga under Barasat Parliamentary Constituency.
A clash between ruling Trinamul Congress and BJP took place at Baduria under Basirhat Lok Sabha Seats. Peaceful voting is also on for Bye-elections in Darjeeling, Islampur, Habibpur and Bhatpara Assembly Constituencies.
