Indians will vote on May 20 for the fifth phase of the world’s biggest electoral exercise, as the country’s national elections enter their final phase, following weeks of heated campaign barbs and apparently lower-than-expected enthusiasm from voters. .
Forty-nine electoral districts will be up for grabs across six states and two federally administered territories (union territories). The leader of the main opposition Congress party, 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, capital of UP.
Voting in the seven-phase elections began on April 19 and the final 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 4th.
The first four phases – April 19, April 26, May 7 and May 13 – recorded voter turnout of 66.1, 66.7 and 61 percent and 67.3 percent, respectively.
Most political parties are aligned with two main coalitions: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government, and the National Inclusive Alliance for the Development of India (INDIA). ), a 26-party coalition led by the main opposition party, Congress.
Who votes in the fifth phase?
Registered voters in the following states and union territories will vote on May 20:
- Jharkhand: Three of the eastern state’s 14 electoral districts
- Orissa: Five of the eastern state’s 21 electoral districts
- Uttar Pradesh: 14 of the northern state’s 80 electoral districts
- Bihar: Five of the eastern state’s 40 electoral districts
- Maharashtra: 13 of the 48 electoral districts in the western state
- West Bengal: Seven of the eastern state’s 42 electoral districts
- Ladaque: The only constituency in the union territory
- Jammu and Kashmir: One of the five constituencies in the union territory
What are some of the main 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 descendant is also seeking re-election for Wayanad, in the southern state of Kerala, for which elections have already been held.
The battle lines are clearly drawn in the neighboring Amethi constituency, which the Congress party wants to wrest from the federal Minister for Women and Child Development, 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 beat 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 was denied a ticket over allegations of sexual harassment. The former president of the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) denies the allegations. But his son Karan Bhushan is the party candidate.
About 100 km (60 miles) away is Faizabad, home to the controversial Ayodhya Ram temple. Lallu Singh is seeking re-election on a BJP ticket 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 chair in the past. Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal party is part of the INDIA alliance.
Meanwhile, Yadav’s trusted aide Shiv Chandra Ram is looking for a turnaround in Hajipur, a constituency that was thrust into the media spotlight in 1977 when Ram Vilas Paswan won with a record mandate. Paswan represented the constituency eight times. His son Chirag is competing in his late father’s bastion. Paswan belongs to the BJP-led NDA.
Ladakh (Ladakh): This single constituency in the union territory of Ladakh, which was split from Indian-administered Kashmir in 2019, has witnessed protests against the BJP, which denied a candidature to its sitting MP Jamyang Tsering Namgyal. The Congress Party hopes to capitalize on local grievances, the main one being the demand to bring the region under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The Congress has promised to include Ladakh in the schedule, which will mean protection for the region’s tribal status. Many locals fear that without this 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 about 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 consumed previously Indian-controlled territory in Ladakh, a claim New Delhi denies.
When does voting start and end?
Voting will begin at 7am local time (01:30 GMT) and end at 6pm (12:30 GMT). Voters who are already in line when the polls close will be able to vote, even if this means keeping polling stations open for longer.
Full election results from all phases will be released on June 4.
Which parties govern the states surveyed in the fifth phase?
- The BJP rules Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh permanently.
- 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.
- O All India Trinamool Congress Partymember of the INDIA alliance, has governed West Bengal since 2011.
- Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh are directly governed by 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 to be decided on May 20.
The BJP and NDA-affiliated parties won 39 seats in 2019.
How much of India has 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 completed for all 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; the 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 25th, and the seventh and final phase will begin on June 1st.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
