Polling held in 59 seats, as India voted in the last phase of General Elections today
The 7th and the most important phase of General Elections has just been over today, i.e., Sunday, May 19, 2019 in 59 constituencies including Varanasi where the Prime Minister of India – Narendra Modi is confident of retaining his seat.
Polling was held in all 13 seats in Punjab, 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 9 seats in West Bengal, 8 seats in Bihar, 8 seats in Madhya Pradesh, 4 seats in Himachal Pradesh, 3 seats in Jharkhand and the lone seat in Chandigarh.
The fate of 918 candidates is in the hands of 10.01 crore voters. The Election Commission (EC) had set up more than 1.12 lakh polling stations for smooth conduct of polls.
In Varanasi, 25 other candidates contested along with PM Modi. The PM’s main opponent are Congress candidate – Ajay Rai and Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party (SP-BSP) grand alliance nominee – Shalini Yadav. The Union Minister – Manoj Sinha and Bhartiya Janta Party’s (BJP’s) Uttar Pradesh Chief – Mahendra Nath Pandey are seeking re-election from Ghazipur and Chandauli, respectively.
The BJP is eyeing a total of 11 Lok Sabha seats in this phase. Its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is contesting Mirzapur, currently held by Minister of State in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – Anupriya Patel.
In Punjab, Shirmani Akali Dal Chief – Sukhbir Singh Badal, his wife who is also Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing – Harsimrat Kaur Badal are among the 278 candidates whose fate is to be decided in this phase. Bollywood action hero – Sunny Deol, Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab Chief – Bhagwant Mann are among other prominent candidates. More than 6 lakh voters have just now made their opinion count by voting either for BJP candidate – Kirron Kher or Congress candidate – Pawan Kumar Bansal.
On most of the 13 seats, the contest appears to be a direct fight between the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance.
In West Bengal, over 73% vote has been cast for 111 candidates in 9 seats–Kolkata North and Kolkata South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jaynagar and Mathurapur. In Bihar, four Union Ministers – Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Kripal Yadav, R.K. Singh and Ashwini Kumar Choubey are among the 157 candidates. Last time, 7 of the seats were won by NDA last time (5 by BJP and 2 by RLSP). This time, with actor Shatrughan Sinha joining Indian National Congress, the major contest is between Ravi Shankar Prasad of BJP and the shotgun actor in Patna. Besides, 42 candidates are contesting from Jharkhand and 45 candidates are contesting from Himachal Pradesh.
The fortune of the 130 crore Indians will be declared on Thursday, May 23, 2019 when the election results will be announced.
