Marathon Lok Sabha polling exercise ends with seventh phase on June 1
PM Modi’s Varanasi constituency is among the 57 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the final phase; in Odisha, voters will also exercise their franchise in 42 Assembly constituencies
Watch | How India voted during Phase 7 of Lok Sabha polls 2024
Polling is scheduled to be held in eight States and Union Territories, including Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. The 57 Lok Sabha seats include 41 general category seats, three reserved for Scheduled Tribes, and 13 for Scheduled Castes. Voting will also take place in the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly.
Of the 57 Lok Sabha seats at stake, the BJP had bagged 25 in 2019, while the Congress won eight, and the Trinamool Congress won nine. The Biju Janata Dal won four seats and the Janata Dal (United) won three; the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Apna Dal, and Akali Dal won two seats each; and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Aam Aadmi Party each snagged a single seat.
Some key constituencies to watch are Varanasi, where the Congress’ Ajai Rai is challenging the Prime Minister; Mandi, where actress and BJP candidate Kangana Ranaut is pitted against the Congress’ Vikramaditya Singh; Chandigarh, where Congress leader Manish Tewari is in the fray against the BJP’s Sanjay Tandon; and Diamond Harbour, where the TMC’s second-in-command Abhishek Banerjee is contesting against the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s Pratik Ur Rahman.
The two constants in the nearly two-month long poll campaign have been the searing heat and low voter turnouts in comparison to 2019. The turnout in the first six phases ranged between 62.2% and 69.16%.
Voters riding on a camel cart arrive at a polling booth, at Gadhwala village, in Rajasthan’s Bikaner district.
Senior couples on their way to cast their votes, in Kra-Daadi district, in Arunachal Pradesh.
Differently-abled voters arrive at a polling booth in Rajasthan’s Alwar district to cast their ballot.
Differently-abled voters arrive at a polling booth in Rajasthan’s Alwar district to cast their ballot.
A ‘bamboo and forest’ theme has been implemented at a polling station in Katta of Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency, Maharashtra. The Nagpur district administration hopes that the voters will get a new experience with this unique concept.
A senior citizen voted from Kra-Daadi district, in Arunachal Pradesh.
A view of a polling booth at Kra-Daadi district, in Arunachal Pradesh.
Voters queue up at a polling booth, at Kra-Daadi district, in Arunachal Pradesh.
Youth cast their votes happily at Kra-Daadi district, in Arunachal Pradesh.
Voters plant saplings outside the polling booth at Ratan Bahan Rajmal Chaudhary Government Girls’ Senior Secondary School, in Nagaur, in Rajasthan, after casting their ballot.
Differently-abled voters arrive at a polling booth in Rajasthan’s Alwar district to cast their ballot.
Differently-abled voters arrive at a polling booth in Rajasthan’s Alwar district to cast their ballot.
A pink polling booth set up in Ramban district of the Udhampur-Doda Lok Sabha constituency. Humeera Nazir, 36, (in pic) from Rallu Banihal, becomes the first female voter at the polling station No. 34 (pink), a model polling station.
An old woman getting herself photographed at a selfie point outside a polling booth, at Shivaji Nagar, in Jalore (Rajasthan).
108-year-old Bhuri Bai, (on wheelchair), poses for a picture after casting her vote, at a polling booth in Loda Hera village of Kota district in Rajasthan.
105-year-old Tipu Devi poses for a picture at the selfie zone, at a polling station at Mount Abu (Sirohi district), which forms part of Jalore Lok Sabha constituency, in Rajasthan.
Women voters, accompanied by children, arrive at a health centre established at a polling station, in Rajasthan’s Baran town, which forms part of Kota Lok Sabha constituency.
A group of transgenders pose for picture, after casting their votes, outside a polling booth in Bhilwara, in Rajasthan.
Thirty-three voters of four generations, belonging to a single family, arrived at a polling station, at Sagwara in Rajasthan’s Dungarpur district, which forms part of the Banswara Lok Sabha constituency.
A newly married couple poses for a picture, after casting their vote in Rajasthan’s Jalore.
Quick Response Team are on duty, amid the heatwave, in Banka, Bihar.
Bihar police monitor the riverine area to avert any untoward incident, in Katihar Lok Sabha constituency.
Voters plant a sapling outside Antari Devi Government School, in Barmer, in Rajasthan.
A polling booth decorated with flowers, in Rajasthan’s Kota city. The banner at the gate reads: “Padharo Mhare Booth” (Welcome to my booth).
Looks like voting is more important than wedding for this young man. He stopped his ‘Baraat’ (marriage procession) outside a polling booth, in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh and went inside to cast his vote.
“Concerned CEOs and State machineries have been directed to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted,” the Election Commission of India said in a statement.
The Commission said that 2,707 flying squads, 2,799 static surveillance teams, 1,080 surveillance teams, and 560 video viewing teams were monitoring the poll process around the clock to strictly and swiftly deal with any form of inducement of voters. There are also 201 international border check posts and 906 inter-State border check posts keeping strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash, and freebies.
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