Voting for the seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024 is set to take place from 7 am on Saturday, June 1. A total of 57 seats across eight states and Union Territories will go to polls, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency of Varanasi.
Notably, polling for the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of Odisha and bypolls to six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh will also take place simultaneously on Saturday.
The day will mark the grand finishing of the world's largest polling marathon, which has already covered six phases beginning from April 19.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 7 Voting | Key Details
POLLING IN 57 SEATS ACROSS 8 STATES & UTs: Polling for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place across 57 constituencies -- in all 13 seats in Punjab, 4 in Himachal Pradesh, 13 in Uttar Pradesh, 9 in West Bengal, 8 in Bihar, 6 in Odisha, 3 in Jharkhand and one of Chandigarh. Voting will begin at 7 am.
ASSEMBLY POLLS AND BYPOLLS: The remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of Odisha and bypolls of six assembly in Himachal Pradesh will also go to polls on Saturday alongside the Lok Sabha seats.
10.9 LAKH POLLING OFFICIALS, 10.06 CRORE ELECTORS: As many as 10.9 lakh Polling officials will be on duty, with over 10.06 crore electors set to cast their votes across 1.09 lakh polling stations. According to the Election Commission of India, the 10.06 crore voters include around 5.24 crore male voters, 4.82 crore female and 3,574 third gender voters. All Election FAQs Answered Here
VOTER TURNOUT SO FAR: The Election Commission called upon voters to turn up in great numbers and cast their votes for the finishing day of one of the biggest general elections. According to the poll body, the voter turnout so far has been like this -- 66.14 per cent in Phase 1, 66.71 per cent in Phase 2, 65.68 per cent in Phase 3, 69.16 in Phase 4, 62.2 in Phase 5 and 63.36 per cent in Phase 6.
KEY CANDIDATES AND SEATS: As many as 904 candidates are in the fray for the last phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Among these, the heavyweight faces include Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi), Union Minister Anurag Thakur (Himachal Pradesh's Hamirpur), Abhishek Banerjee (West Bengal's Diamond Harbour), Misa Bharti (Bihar's Pataliputra), Kangana Ranaut (Himachal Pradesh's Mandi) and Charanjit Singh Channi (Punjab's Jalandhar).
PREPS FOR HEATWAVE: The Election Commission noted that necessary facilities, including ample shade, drinking water, ramps, and toilets have been made to ensure that polling takes place in a comfortable environment. The poll-governing body said that it has directed all electoral officers and officials to take adequate measures to manage adverse weather conditions. Notably, the India Meteorological Department has issued heatwave to severe heatwave warnings for the next five days for Haryana-Chandigarh-Delhi, parts of East Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Coastal Andhra Pradesh.
WHO WON IN 2019? In the 2019 general elections, the BJP-led NDA won 30 of the 57 seats, while the parties in the now Congress-led INDIA bloc won 19 seats. BJP alone won 25 of these whereas Congress won 8. The NDA won a staggering 353 seats in all, while UPA bagged 93. The BJP alone won 303 seats in the previous Lok Sabha polls.
(With agency inputs)
