Indians will cast their votes on May 20 for the fifth phase of the world's largest electoral exercise, as the country's national elections enter their final stages after weeks of heated campaign attacks and apparently lower voter enthusiasm than expected. expected.
Forty-nine electoral districts in six states and two federally administered territories (union territories) will be at stake. Main opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi is at the polls in the family stronghold of Rae Bareli in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), while Defense Minister Rajnath Singh will seek a third term in Lucknow , the capital of UP.
Voting in the seven-phase elections began on April 19 and the last phase will be held on June 1, concluding a mammoth exercise in which at least 969 million people are registered to vote. People from 36 states and union territories are expected to elect 543 representatives to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. Votes will be counted on June 4.
In the first four phases (April 19, April 26, May 7 and May 13), voter turnout of 66.1, 66.7, 61 and 67.3 percent, respectively, was recorded.
Most political parties are aligned with two major coalitions: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Inclusive National Alliance for India's Development (INDIA ), a 26-party coalition led by the main opposition party, the Congress.
Who votes in the fifth phase?
Registered voters in the following states and union territories will cast their votes on May 20:
- Jharkhand: Three of the 14 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Odisha: Five of the 21 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Uttar Pradesh: 14 of the northern state's 80 electoral districts
- Bihar: Five of the 40 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Maharastra: 13 of the western state's 48 congressional districts
- West Bengal: Seven of the 42 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Ladakh: The only constituency of the union territory
- Jammu and Kashmir: One of the five electoral districts of the union territory
What are some of the key constituencies?
Amethi, Rae Bareli, Kaiserganj, Faizabad (Uttar Pradesh): All eyes would be on Amethi and Rae Bareli, the fiefdoms of the Nehru-Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli in place of his mother and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, who represented the seat four times. The Gandhi scion is also seeking re-election for Wayanad, in the southern state of Kerala, for which elections have already been held.
The battle lines are sharply drawn in the neighboring Amethi constituency, which the Congress Party wants to wrest from federal Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani. The party has dominated the two constituencies for decades, which have the distinction of sending two prime ministers (Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, Rahul's grandmother and father, respectively) to parliament. Rahul Gandhi won Amethi in 2004, 2009 and 2014, before Irani defeated him in 2019. Congress loyalist KL Sharma is challenging Irani this time.
Also in Uttar Pradesh is Kaiserganj, where BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh has been denied a fine on sexual harassment charges. The former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) denies the charges. But his son Karan Bhushan is the party's candidate.
About 100 kilometers (60 miles) away is Faizabad, home to the controversial Ayodhya Ram temple. Lallu Singh is seeking re-election with the BJP against his main rival Awadhesh Prasad of the Samajwadi Party, which is part of the INDIA alliance. The BJP, which won 62 of the state's 80 seats in 2019, hopes to repeat its performance here, or even improve its numbers.
Saran, Hajipur (Bihar): Former Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya is challenging BJP's Rajiv Pratap Ruddy in Saran. Her father also represented this seat in the past. Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal party is part of the INDIA alliance.
Meanwhile, Yadav's trusted aide Shiv Chandra Ram is eyeing a surprise in Hajipur, a constituency that came into the media spotlight in 1977 when Ram Vilas Paswan won with a record mandate. Paswan went on to represent the constituency eight times. His son Chirag is competing in his late father's stronghold. Paswan belongs to the BJP-led NDA.
Ladakh (Ladakh): This single constituency in the union territory of Ladakh, which broke away from Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019, has seen protests against the BJP, which has denied a candidacy to its sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal. The Congress Party hopes to capitalize on local grievances, the main one being the demand to include the region in the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. The Congress has promised to include Ladakh in the calendar, which will mean protecting the tribal status of the region. Many locals fear that without such a provision, their land, jobs and educational benefits could be invaded by people from other parts of the country.
The region is ecologically sensitive and protesters have warned of the risks of overtourism. Ladakh is also on the frontline of a tense border standoff between India and China, since a deadly clash in May 2020 in which at least 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
Many analysts say evidence suggests China has since been nibbling at territory formerly controlled by India in Ladakh, a claim New Delhi denies.
When does voting start and end?
Voting will begin at 07:00 local time (01:30 GMT) and end at 18:00 (12:30 GMT). Voters already in line when the polls close will be able to vote even if it means keeping polling stations open longer.
Complete election results for all phases will be published on June 4.
Which parties govern the states that will be surveyed in the fifth phase?
- The BJP directly rules Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
- Maharashtra and Bihar are governed by the BJP and its coalition partners.
- Odisha is governed by the NDA-aligned Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
- Jharkhand is governed by the INDIA alliance led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
- The All India Trinamool Congress party, a member of the INDIA alliance, has governed West Bengal since 2011.
- Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are governed directly from New Delhi.
Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019?
In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, along with parties now affiliated to the INDIA alliance and those then affiliated to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, won eight of the 49 seats that will be decided on May 20.
The BJP and NDA-affiliated parties won 39 of the seats in 2019.
How many Indians have voted so far?
The first four phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 380 MPs.
So far, voting has been concluded for all the seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan , Sikkim, Tripura; Andaman and Nicobar Islands; and the union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The sixth phase will begin on May 25 and the seventh and final phase will begin on June 1.
