May 12th 2024.
Amravati and Lucknow will be buzzing with activity on Monday as 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union Territories are set to cast their votes. This phase of the general elections will determine the electoral fate of many prominent candidates, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Union minister Giriraj Singh, TMC's firebrand leader Mohua Moitra, and AIMIM's Asaduddin Owaisi.
The India Meteorological Department has predicted normal to below normal temperatures in the areas where voting will take place on Monday. While the usual voting hours are from 7 am to 6 pm, they have been shortened in some regions due to factors such as terrain, sunset time, and security concerns.
In addition to the Lok Sabha elections, all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh will also be voting. The state is witnessing a triangular contest between the ruling YSRC, the Congress-led INDIA bloc, and the NDA, which includes the BJP, Chandrababu Naidu's TDP, and Pawan Kalyan's Jana Sena Party. Odisha will also see voting for 28 legislative assembly seats in this phase.
A total of 1,717 candidates are in the fray for the Lok Sabha seats, and over 19 lakh polling officials have been deployed at 1.92 lakh polling stations. The eligible voters in this round are over 17.70 crore, including 8.73 crore women. Among the prominent candidates to watch out for are former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Nityanand Rai, and Raosaheb Danve, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, former cricketer and TMC candidate Yusuf Pathan, BJP's Pankaja Munde, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, and Andhra Pradesh Congress president YS Sharmila.
The electoral fate of Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra Teni, whose son is an accused in the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, will also be decided in this phase. TMC's Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from Lok Sabha in 2019 due to cash-for-query allegations, is seeking re-election from Krishnanagar in West Bengal. Meanwhile, film star-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is facing a tough challenge from BJP's veteran leader S S Ahluwalia in Asansol. BJP's former West Bengal president Dilip Ghosh and Trinamool Congress' Kirti Azad are also contesting in this phase.
So far, 283 seats out of 543 have voted in the Lok Sabha elections. In this phase, voting will take place on all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, five in Bihar, four in Jharkhand, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, four in Odisha, eight in West Bengal, and one in Jammu and Kashmir. The Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir will also see voting for the first time since the abrogation of Article 370 in August 2019. The National Conference has fielded influential Shia leader Aga Syed Ruhullah Mehdi, while the People's Democratic Party has put forward youth leader Waheed Para. The Apni Party has fielded Ashraf Mir, and the BJP is not contesting.
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA currently holds seats in over 40 of the 96 constituencies going to polls on Monday. The voter turnout in the first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections was 66.14%, 66.71%, and 65.68%, respectively. The Election Commission believes that the heatwave conditions may have contributed to the lower voter turnout in the last three phases when compared to the 2019 parliamentary polls. However, according to the India Meteorological Department, there are no significant concerns regarding hot weather conditions on polling day.
Due to the hot weather, the Election Commission has extended voting hours in some Telangana seats, keeping in mind people's reluctance to step out in the afternoon. The issues of reservations, appeasement politics, corruption, and jobs have dominated the battle of narratives in this phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
In Uttar Pradesh, 13 constituencies will be voting, including a close contest between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and sitting BJP MP Subrat Pathak in Kannauj. In Unnao, incumbent BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj is facing a challenge from SP's Annu Tandon. In West Bengal, the Election Commission has identified 3,647 polling stations as "critical" across eight constituencies. A total of 152 companies of central forces have been deployed in the state.
The voter turnout in the redrawn Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency will be closely watched, as this is the first major election in Kashmir since the abrogation of Article 370. To encourage people to vote, district election officers have organized various outreach programs and used different forms of media to spread awareness. All necessary arrangements have been made for Monday's polling, with a total of 17,47,810 voters enrolled, including persons with disabilities and those above the age of 100 years.
In Madhya Pradesh, eight constituencies will be voting, completing the elections for all 29 seats in the state. These eight constituencies are considered the bastion of the BJP and are spread over 64 assembly segments in 15 districts in the state's Malwa-Nimar region. In Indore, Congress candidate Akshay Bam withdrew his nomination at the last minute and joined the BJP, making it a one-sided contest for BJP's Shankar Lalwani. However, the Congress has urged voters to choose the NOTA option.
The remaining three phases of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 20, May 25, and June 1, with the counting of votes on June 4.
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