Voting is underway for the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections. In this phase polling is being held in 57 Parliamentary Constituencies spread over seven States and one Union Territory. These include 13 seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and one Parliamentary Constituency in Chandigarh. The voting began at 7 today morning and will conclude at 6 in the evening.
Over 26 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am.
State wise polling percentage is:
- Himachal Pradesh, nearly 32 per cent
- Jharkhand, over 29 per cent
- West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh over 28 per cent
- Bihar, over 24 per cent
- Chandigarh, over 25 per cent
- Punjab, nearly 24 per cent
- Odisha, nearly 23 per cent
A total of 904 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Prominent among them are: Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi, party leaders Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kangana Ranaut, Congress leader Manish Tiwari and Vikramaditya Singh, RJD leader Misa Bharti, and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee.
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Over 10 crore 60 lakh voters are eligible to vote in this phase.
Simultaneously, polling is being held for remaining 42 seats of Odisha Assembly in the fourth phase. In addition, Assembly by-elections for six constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and one seat each in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are also taking place.
This seventh phase will mark a grand finish to the world’s largest polling marathon that began on 19th of April and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats.