THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, May 20: Data released by the Election Commission shows that as of 5 p.m., the cumulative voter turnout for the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections for 49 parliamentary constituencies was 56.68%.
According to the Election Commission, West Bengal had the highest voter turnout at 73 per cent. It was followed by Ladakh with 67.15 per cent, Jharkhand with 61.90 per cent, Odisha with 60.55 per cent, Uttar Pradesh with 55.80 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir with 54.21 per cent, Bihar with 52.35 per cent, and Maharashtra with 48.66 per cent.
The seats which underwent voting today
In the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, voting started from 7 am amid tight security arrangements on 49 Lok Sabha seats in six states and two union territories, which will continue till 6 pm.
The 49 Lok Sabha seats include 14 from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, seven from West Bengal, five from Bihar, three from Jharkhand, five from Odisha, one from Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir and one from Ladakh.
Also Read- Jharkhand records voter turnout of 61.90% in fifth phase of LS polls
Along with the Lok Sabha elections in Odisha, the second phase of voting is also being held for the remaining 35 assembly seats. At the same time, in Uttar Pradesh, voting is also going on for the by-election on Lucknow East Assembly seat.
Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi in fray
A total of 695 candidates are in the fray for 49 Lok Sabha seats in the fifth phase. Rae Bareli and Amethi are ‘high profile’ seats in this, from where former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are in the fray. Apart from this, the reputation of many big leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) including veteran leaders Rajnath Singh and Piyush Goyal is at stake.
8 crore 95 lakh eligible voters
The fate of these candidates will be decided by 8 crore 95 lakh voters. In this, 5409 voters are third gender. Of these, there are 24,792 voters aged 100 years or more, while there are 7 lakh 81 thousand voters aged 85 years or more. Seven lakh three thousand voters are physically disabled. Voting is going to be held on the least number of seats (49) in the fifth phase. 9 lakh 47 thousand employees are deployed at 94732 polling stations set up in 8 states and union territories.
