Voting for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded on Monday in 49 seats across six states and two Union territories.

Polling took place in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, five each in Bihar and Odisha, three in Jharkhand and one seat each in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Out of the total of 543 Lok Sabha seats, voting had been completed in 379 constituencies in the first four phases of the election.

At 8 pm, the average provisional voter turnout in the fifth phase was 57.51%, according to the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout App.

The app showed a 57.79% voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh as of 8 pm, 49.01% in Maharashtra, 73% in West Bengal, 52.64% in Bihar, 60.72% in Odisha and 63% in Jharkhand. While Jammu and Kashmir saw a voter turnout of 54.67% by 7 pm, Ladakh saw 67.15%.

Some voters and political parties complained about the slow voting process at some polling stations in various parliamentary constituencies of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Uddhav Thackeray alleged on Monday afternoon that voting had been delayed at several places in Mumbai and the Election Commission was doing this deliberately at the behest of the Narendra Modi government.

There was a delay at the polling booths in areas where his party, which is part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, expects more votes, PTI quoted Thackeray as claiming. He urged voters to stand in the queues as long as early morning on Tuesday, if required, where the polling process was slow.

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Candidates in the fray

In Jammu and Kashmir, voting is taking place in the Baramulla constituency, which covers 18 Assembly segments. National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is contesting the seat against Jammu and Kashmir People’s Conference leader Sajad Lone and 21 other candidates.

Abdullah’s party is part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting from the Rae Bareli seat, which has been a stronghold of his mother Sonia Gandhi. In Amethi, Bharatiya Janata Party MP and Union minister Smriti Irani is up against the Congress’ Kishori Lal Sharma. Irani had won from Amethi in 2019 defeating Rahul Gandhi. However, Rahul Gandhi had won the Lok Sabha polls from Kerala’s Wayanad.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is contesting the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat against Ravidas Mehrotra from the Samajwadi Party, which is part of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc.

BJP has fielded Karan Bhushan Singh, son of sitting MP and former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh accused of sexual harassment, from Kaiserganj constituency in Uttar Pradesh.

In Bihar, Rohini Acharya, daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, is contesting from the Saran Lok Sabha seat.

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