LS Polls 2019:Polling For Fifth Phase Underway

New Delhi: Polling is underway for phase 5 of Lok Sabha elections on Monday.A few facts about the polls conducted in this phase:

* 51 Lok Sabha constituencies across 7 states headed for polls

* Over 8.75 crore voters to decide fate of 674 candidates

* Over 96,000 polling booths in place for smooth conduct of polls

* Uttar Pradesh has maximum number of polling booths: 28,072

Uttar Pradesh: Voting began on Monday for 14 parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, including the high-profile Amethi, Rae Bareli and Lucknow seats, at 7 a.m. The 14 seats are Lucknow, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kesarganj, Gonda and Dhaurahra.

Both Rae Bareli and Amethi, which are traditional Congress strongholds, will witness a heated contest between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In Rae Bareli, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who has held the seat from 2004, will face former Congress leader Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP. In Amethi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi will again face Union Minister Smriti Irani.

* Jammu and Kashmir has the least number of polling booths: 1,254

* Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency (PC) in Jammu & Kashmir going to polls in Phase III, Phase IV & Phase V, the only such PC in the country

Leh/Srinagar: Polling began on Monday for Ladakh and Anantnag Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir. Enthusiastic voters started pouring out to throng the polling stations in Leh and Kargil districts.

In contrast, most of the polling stations wore a deserted look in Shopian and Pulwama districts where polling is being held in the third and final phase of Anantnag Lok Sabha seat. Polling started at 7 a.m. in both the Lok Sabha seats, but it will end at 4 p.m. in Anantnag constituency and 6 p.m. in Ladakh constituency. In the hilly Shahdab Karewa village of Shopian district, voters started to come out in good numbers to exercise their democratic rights. In Ladakh, the contest is four-cornered between Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Rigzin Spalbar of the Congress and two independents, Haji Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain. There are 18 candidates in fray in Anantnag, but the main contest is between Mehbooba Mufti of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ghulam Ahmad Mir of Congress and Justice (retired) Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference.

Bihar: Voting began on Monday amid tight security for five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar, officials said. The voting is underway in Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur and Saran parliamentary constituencies. More than 87 lakh voters would decide the fate of 82 candidates.

Jaipur: Over 13 per cent turnout was recorded in the first two hours of polling on Monday in 12 Lok Sabha seats of Rajasthan where two former Olympians are among the 124 candidates in fray.

The highest voter turnout till 9 am was in Ganganagar (SC) (15.18 per cent), followed by Dausa (ST) where the voter turnout was 14.40 per cent.  Polling began at 7 am in Ganganagar, Bikaner, Churu, Jhunjhunu, Sikar, Jaipur rural, Jaipur, Alwar, Bharatpur, Karauli-Dholpur, Dausa and Nagaur.

16 of the total 134 candidates are women. 23,783 polling stations have been set up in 12 constituencies where 2.30 crore voters are registered.   Two former Olympians, a former IAS officer and a former IPS officer are among the candidates whose fate will be decided by voters.

(With inputs from PTI and IANS)

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