Lok Sabha Elections Phase 5 turnout: Over 57% polling till 5 pm, highest in Bengal at 73%

Over 57 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm on Monday, when 49 Lok Sabha seats across eight states and Union Territories went to polls in the fifth phase. The highest voting was witnessed in West Bengal (73 per cent) followed by Ladakh (67.15 pwer cent), Jharkhand (63 per cent), Odisha (60.72 per cent), and Uttar Pradesh (57.64 per cent). 

West Bengal 

In West Bengal, the Arambag parliamentary constituency registered the highest polling at 76.90 per cent, followed by Bangaon at 75.73 per cent, Uluberia at 74.50 per cent, Hooghly at 74.17 per cent, Sreerampur at 71.18 per cent, Howrah and Barrackpore at 68.84 per cent each. Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. Altogether 88 candidates are in the fray in the fifth phase, with the highest number of 15 contestants in Bongaon, where Union Minister Shantanu Thakur is fighting against TMC's Biswajit Das.

Bihar 

Bihar witnessed 52.35 per cent turnout in five Lok Sabha constituencies till 5 pm. The polling was held in Muzaffarpur, Madhubani, Sitamarhi, Saran and Hajipur Lok Sabha constituencies. More than 95 lakh voters in these five seats will decide the electoral fate of 80 candidates. Around 55.30 per cent of voters exercised their franchise in Muzaffarpur, 53.81 per cent in Hajipur, 53.13 per cent in Sitamarhi, 50.46 per cent in Saran and 49.01 per cent in Madhubani till 5 pm. 

Notable candidates include NDA ally Chirag Paswan in Hajipur, Lalu Prasad's daughter Rohini Acharya, who is pitted against two-term sitting BJP MP and former Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran, and Muzaffarpur's sitting MP Ajay Nishad, who crossed over to the Congress after being denied a saffron party ticket for a third term. 

Jharkhand 

A voter turnout of 61.90 per cent was recorded in the three Lok Sabha constituencies - Chatra, Hazaribag, and Koderma - in Jharkhand. Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat registered the highest voter turnout of 63.66 per cent, followed by Koderma (61.60 per cent) and Chatra (60.26 per cent). A voter turnout of 66.45 per cent was recorded in the by-election to Gandey assembly seat in Jharkhand. 

Uttar Pradesh 

Uttar Pradesh, where voting was held for 14 seats, recorded 55.80 per cent voter turnout till 5 pm. Amethi recorded a voter turnout of 52.68 per cent, Banda 57.38 per cent, Barabanki 64.86 per cent, Faizabad 57.36 per cent, Fatehpur 54.56 per cent, Gonda 50.21 per cent, Hamirpur 57.83 per cent, Jalaun 53.73 per cent, Jhansi 61.18 per cent, Kaisarganj 53.92 per cent, Kaushambi 50.65 per cent, Lucknow 49.88 per cent, Mohanlalganj 60.10 per cent and Rae Bareli 56.26 per cent. 

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani (Amethi), Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj), Minister of State for Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur) and Union Minister of State for MSME Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma (Jalaun) are among those in the fray. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is in the fray from Rae Bareli, represented by his mother and former party president Sonia Gandhi earlier. 

(With inputs from PTI)