Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Stage set for polling in 57 seats tomorrow

New Delhi: The last votes in this edition of the Lok Sabha election will be cast on Saturday, marking the grand finale of the seven-phased polls where 10.06 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 57 seats, including in Varanasi where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting, spread across eight states and union territories.

Along with this, polling for the last 42 of 147 Assembly seats in Odisha will also be held simultaneously. So far, polling for 28 states and UTs and 486 seats has been completed while the counting of votes is scheduled for June 4.

All 13 seats in Punjab and four in Himachal Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, three in Jharkhand and one in Chandigarh will witness polling in the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha polls. The last phase will see 904 candidates trying their luck.

"In spite of hot weather conditions, voters have turned up in huge numbers at the polling stations in the past phases. In the last two phases, female voter turnout percentage has surpassed male voter turnout," the Election Commission said in a statement as it appealed to people to come out and vote.

Around 10.9 lakh polling officials are deployed in 1.09 lakh polling stations in these constituencies.

Of the 57 seats going to polls, BJP had bagged 25 in 2019, while the Congress won eight and Trinamool Congress 9. BJD has 4, JDU 3, BSP, Apna Dal, and Akali Dal 2 each, and JMM and AAP one each.

However, in bypolls, Congress lost Jalandhar to AAP while wresting Mandi from BJP. AAP lost Sangrur to Akali Dal (Amritsar). In this polls, two Congress sitting MPs, Ravneet Bittu and Preneet Kaur, and AAP MP Sushil Rinku are fighting from their seats in Punjab on a BJP ticket.

Senior Congress leader Manish Tewari has been shifted from Anandpur Sahib to Chandigarh. In West Bengal, Trinamool Congress General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee will be fighting from Diamond Harbour once again.

Phase 7 in numbers:

Seats: 57 - Gen:41; SC:13; ST:3

States/UTs: 8

Candidates: 904

Women Candidates: 95

Voters: 10.06 crore

Men: 5.24 crore

Women: 4.82 crore

Third gender: 3574

Polling stations: 1.09 lakh

Polling officials: 10.9 lakh

To Ferry Polling and Security Personnel

-- 13 Special trains

-- 8 helicopter sorties (Himachal Pradesh)

Observers: 172

-- 64 General Observers, 32 Police Observers, 76 Expenditure Observers

-- Additionally, Special Observers have been deployed in certain states

Poll Surveillance

-- 2707 Flying Squads

-- 2799 Static Surveillance Teams

-- 1080 Video Surveillance Teams

-- 560 Video Viewing Teams

-- 201 international border check posts and 906 inter-state border check posts on strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash and freebies

-- Strict surveillance has been kept at sea and air routes

Main contests

Varanasi: Narendra Modi (BJP) vs Ajay Rai (Congress)

Mandi: Kangana Ranaut (BJP) vs Vikramaditya Singh (Congress)

Chandigarh: Manish Tewari (Congress) vs Sanjay Tandon (BJP)

Diamond Harbour: Abhishek Banerjee (TMC) vs Pratik Ur Rahman (CPIM)

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