iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-
The Indian parliamentary elections, one of the largest democratic exercises in the world, are nearing their conclusion as voting begins today in 58 Lok Sabha constituencies across six states and two union territories.
According to the autonomous Election Commission of India, polling started at a slow pace, with just over 25 percent of registered voters turning up during the first four hours. The states voting today include Uttar Pradesh (14 constituencies), Haryana (10 constituencies), Bihar and West Bengal (8 seats each), Odisha (6 constituencies), and Jharkhand (4 constituencies). Additionally, the two union territories witnessing elections are Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri and all seven seats in the national capital, Delhi.
The ongoing severe heatwave conditions in northern India are believed to be one of the reasons for the low voter turnout. Typically, voting picks up as the day progresses, and all voters in line at the closing time of 6 pm are allowed to cast their votes.
In this phase, India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies have much at stake, having won 45 of these seats in the 2019 elections. Conversely, the Congress party-led opposition alliance has little to lose and much to gain, having secured victories in only four of these constituencies.
The sixth phase of India’s elections also tests the alliance between former adversaries-turned-friends: the Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Under this alliance, Congress has fielded candidates in three Delhi seats, while AAP is contesting four. In the neighboring state of Haryana, Congress is competing for nine out of the 10 seats at stake, leaving one for AAP.
The Congress party and the Aam Aadmi Party are set to face off in the last phase of voting on June 1, which will mark the culmination of the month-and-a-half-long election exercise. All eyes will be on Punjab, where these two political rivals will lock horns.
Some of the prominent candidates in the fray today include two former chief ministers – Mehbooba Mufti of Jammu and Kashmir (Peoples Democratic Party Anantnagand-Rajouri seat) and Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana (BJP Karnal seat). Federal ministers Dharmendra Pradhan of BJP from the Sambalpur seat of Odisha and Rao Inderjit Singh of BJP from Gurgaon seat of Haryana are in the fray. Rao Inderjit is pitted against Hindi film actor Raj Babbar of Congress.
Former federal ministers Maneka Gandhi of BJP from Sultanpur constituency of Uttar Pradesh and industrialist Naveen Jindal, who switched from the Congress party to join BJP, is in the fray from the Kurukshetra seat of Haryana.
In the New Delhi seat, Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of late former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj is making her electoral debut as a BJP nominee. The party chose Bansuri over the incumbent junior foreign minister Meenakshi Lekhi who had won this seat in 2019.
In Haryana’s Sirsa seat, it is a showdown between former federal minister Kumari Selja (Congress) and the former Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar who is in the fray as a BJP nominee.
The Hisar Lok Sabha seat in Haryana is witnessing an intriguing political showdown involving three generations of the Devi Lal family. Former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal’s lineage is at the forefront, with family members competing against each other. Devi Lal’s younger son, Ranjit Singh Chautala (BJP), is pitted against Sunaina Chautala, the daughter-in-law of his elder brother Om Prakash Chautala, and Naina Singh Chautala, the granddaughter-in-law of Om Prakash Chautala. Sunaina is a nominee of the Indian National Lok Dal, while Naina is representing the Jannayak Janata Party.
Following the voting process, the Election Commission will take up the counting of votes on June 4. Thanks to the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) in all 543 constituencies for the new Lok Sabha, the tedious manual counting process has been streamlined. As a result, the Election Commission expects to declare all results on the same day.
