India's staggered general elections are heading into their penultimate phase, with voters in eight federally governed states and union territories set to decide the fate of 889 candidates on May 25.
Among some prominent candidates, Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is challenging sitting MP Manoj Tiwari, a Bhojpuri-language regional film actor and singer, in the northeast Delhi constituency, while the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is seeking entry to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, from Sambalpur, in the eastern state of Odisha.
In the sixth phase, all seven seats from the Indian capital region, a stronghold of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), will go to polls. In the first five phases (April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20) an electoral participation of 66.1, 66.7, 61, 67.3 and 60.5 per cent, respectively.
The Inclusive Alliance for India's National Development (INDIA), led by the main opposition Congress party, has promised to address economic hardship and lack of job creation as it aims to challenge the electoral dominance of the National Democratic Alliance ( NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Who votes in the sixth phase?
Registered voters in the following six states and two union territories will cast their votes for 58 seats:
- Haryana: The 10 electoral districts of the northern state
- Jharkhand: Four of the 14 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Odisha: Six of the 21 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Uttar Pradesh: 14 of the northern state's 80 electoral districts
- Bihar: Eight of the 40 electoral districts of the eastern state
- West Bengal: Eight of the 42 electoral districts of the eastern state
- Delhi: The seven electoral districts of the National Capital Territory (NCT)
- Jammu and Kashmir: Anantnag-Rajouri, one of the five constituencies in the union territory where elections were postponed from Phase 3 to Phase 6 due to weather conditions.
What are some of the key constituencies?
New Delhi, North East Delhi (NCT): The battle for Delhi has turned ugly as the region's popular Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unleashed a harsh attack on Modi after he was released from jail on bail in a corruption case. He has accused the BJP of using investigation agencies to frame him. Several opposition leaders have been jailed or face corruption cases. Kejriwal's AAP has joined forces with the Congress to wrest all seven seats from the BJP.
It will be an uphill task for Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, who lost to BJP's Giriraj Singh in Bihar's Begusarai in the 2019 elections, to defeat Tiwari, a two-time MP representing northeast Delhi. In 2019, Tiwari defeated Congress stalwart and three-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit by a margin of over 360,000 votes.
The BJP, which swept the Delhi Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019, has fielded Bansuri Swaraj, the 40-year-old daughter of former external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, for the New Delhi seat. AAP's Somnath Bharti is challenging her.
Kurukshetra, Gurgaon and Karnal (Haryana): The BJP swept all 10 seats in the state of Haryana in 2019, mainly an agricultural belt neighboring Delhi. But the party has since faced backlash from sections of the state after cracking down on the 2021 farmers' agitation. The Modi government, which has promised to double farm income by 2022, has been accused of helping business groups at the expense of farmers. The BJP, which rules the state, has denied the allegations.
Prominent industrialist Naveen Jindal is seeking election from Kurukshetra after switching over from Congress to BJP. He lost the last two elections (2014 and 2019) to the BJP after representing the constituency for 10 years. BJP leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is contesting from Karnal against Congress's Satpal Brahmachari, while BJP federal minister Rao Inderjit Singh hopes to continue his victorious race from Gurgaon, a satellite city on the outskirts of Delhi, with actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar of Congress is the main rival.
Anantnag-Rajouri (J&K): People's Democratic Party leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is aiming to enter Parliament from Anantnag-Rajouri. He faces Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference party.
Azamgarh, Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Azamgarh, in eastern Uttar Pradesh, voted for the BJP in 2019, when Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, a popular Bhojpuri actor, was elected. The Samajwadi Party, which is the main opposition party in the state, has fielded Dharmendra Yadav, nephew of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. In the past, the constituency sent Mulayam and his son Akhilesh Yadav, also a former chief minister and party chief, to parliament.
Tamluk (West Bengal): Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned as a judge, is contesting the elections on a BJP ticket from this constituency. He will face Debangshu Bhattacharya of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party, a member of the INDIA alliance.
When does voting start and end?
Voting will begin at 7:00 a.m. (01:30 GMT) and end at 6:00 p.m. (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.
The seventh and final phase of the elections will be held on June 1. The vote count will take place on June 4 and the results will likely be announced that same day.
Which parties govern the states surveyed in the sixth phase?
- The BJP rules Uttar Pradesh and Haryana directly and rules Bihar in alliance.
- Odisha is governed by the NDA-aligned Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
- Jharkhand is governed by the INDIA alliance led by Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
- INDIA's TMC has ruled West Bengal since 2011.
- The AAP, part of the INDIA alliance, rules Delhi.
- Jammu and Kashmir is governed directly by Prime Minister Modi's central government.
Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019?
In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, parties now affiliated to the INDIA alliance and voters of the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won seven of the 58 seats that will be decided on May 25.
The BJP and NDA-allied parties won 42 of these seats.
The BJD won four of the seats in Odisha, while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won four seats in Uttar Pradesh.
How many Indians have voted so far?
The first five phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 429 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 and union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
