New Delhi: Voters in 96 constituencies across nine states and one Union Territory are voting in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha election today. Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will also pick their next governments in simultaneous election
Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:
- Nine states and one Union Territory — Andhra Pradesh (25), Bihar (5), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (8), Maharashtra (11), Odisha (4), Telangana (17), Uttar Pradesh (13), West Bengal (8), and Jammu and Kashmir (1) — are voting today. Till 11 am, the 96 seats have clocked an average 24.9 per cent turnout.
- Forty-two of the 96 seats (44 per cent) are spread across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This phase will see the conclusion of polling in the southern states.
- Jammu and Kashmir is having its first election since 2019 today. Polling is on for the Srinagar constituency — one of the two Lok Sabha seats in the Union Territory. Polling for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat has been deferred to May 25 after objections from the BJP.
- This phase is dominated by non-aligned parties like Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. Neither party has officially joined the ruling dispensation or the Opposition bloc, though they have given “issue-based support” to the Central government multiple times in parliament.
- Today’s voting comes amid Opposition questions about the role of the Election Commission after it sent notices to the BJP and the Congress chiefs after controversial comments by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.
- A number of senior leaders from the BJP and the Opposition are in the fray, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh and Ajay Mishra, whose son is in jail in connection with the farmers’ death in Lakhimpur Kheri, run over by his car.
- The key Opposition leaders contesting today include Trinamool Congress’s Mohua Moitra, who is hoping to get back in parliament after her suspension over the alleged cash-for-questions issue. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool’s Shatrughan Sinha and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah are also in the fray.
- In Bengal’s Krishnanagar, where Ms Moitra is up against BJP’s Amrita Ray, a CPM worker was injured in a clash with Trinamool Congress supporters. In a tragic incident in Telangana’s Bhadradri Kothagudem district, a government employee on poll duty died of suspected heart attack.
- The next phase of election is due on May 20. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 after the last phase of the election ends on June 1.
