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    Polling over in 424 seats, spotlight on eastern UP

    Synopsis

    This round also saw elections kick off in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, counted as the core catchment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who contesed from Varanasi.

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    In MP, turnout was higher at Betul while it dipped in Rewa.
    NEW DELHI: Elections 2019 have begun to wind down with polling completed in 424 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats after Monday’s fifth phase, which saw voting in 51 seats across seven states. As many as 80% of these seats are categorised as rural. The voter turnout, at 62.56% until 6 pm, was slightly higher than that recorded in 2014.

    Polling in Bihar and Rajasthan went up by 2 percentage points. West Bengal again recorded the highest polling at 74.06%. Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh registered 63% voting, slightly up from 2014, while Uttar Pradesh reported about 57.33% turnout until 6 pm.

    Jammu & Kashmir continued to show a lower trend at 17.07%.

    Anantnag parliamentary constituency that went to polls in three phases reported a total voter turnout of 8.76%, way down from 28.54% in 2014. The meagre turnouts in south Kashmir’s Pulwama and Shopian districts — 2.14% and 2.88%, respectively — were on expected lines as these areas have witnessed heightened militant activities since 2016.

    This round also saw elections kick off in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, counted as the core catchment of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who contesed from Varanasi. This is also the region for which Priyanka Gandhi is General Secretary in-charge within the Congress.

    Polls were also held in Amethi and Rae Bareli, considered pocket boroughs of the Nehru-Gandhi family, as well as in Lucknow from where home minister Rajnath Singh was in poll race.

    In Bihar’s Saran, Rajiv Pratap Rudy was up against RJD’s Chandrika Roy, whose daughter is married to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad’s son Tej Pratap Yadav. The constituency recorded the highest voter turnout in the state until 3 pm at 46%.

    Union ministers Rajyavardhan Rathore and Arjun Meghwal are defending their seats in Jaipur Rural and Bikaner, respectively, while civil aviation minister Jayant Sinha is contesting from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.

    The phase was crucial to Trinamool Congress’ fortunes in West Bengal where BJP has emerged as a challenger. Elections are now over in Rajasthan, where BJP won 24 of 25 seats in 2014.

    In UP, Sitapur recorded the highest turnout at 50.32% till 3 PM while Kaushambi was at the lowest with 40.37%. Lucknow recorded 43.07% turnout till 3 PM while Rae Bareli and Amethi recorded 42.68% and 41. 92%, respectively.

    In MP, turnout was higher at Betul while it dipped in Rewa.

    Tikamgarh, Khajuraho and Damoh in Bundelkhhand — all BJP strongholds — recorded voter turnout in the range of 52% till 3 PM.

    Hoshangabad, another BJP bastion and a seat the party has been winning since 1989, recorded around 59% voter turnout till 3 PM. Here BJP’s sitting MP Uday Pratap Singh is pitted against Shailendra Diwan of Congress.


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