New Delhi: The fate of several top leaders and Union ministers like Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi got sealed in the EVMs as voting for the fifth phase took place on Monday with an overall voter turnout of 57.54 per cent. Mumbai, Howrah, Baramulla, Ladakh, Amethi, Rae Bareli and Lucknow were among the metros that voted amid an intense heatwave. Voters from 49 constituencies across six states and two Union territories voted in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls. The voting for the second phase of Assembly elections in Odisha also took place simultaneously.
There were reports of violence from West Bengal and complaints of EVM malfunctioning from Uttar Pradesh. Chief minister and Trinamul Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee’s youngest brother Swapan Banerjee, also known as “Babun”, could not cast his vote on Monday after his name was not found in the voters’ list.
Despite violence and intimidation reports, West Bengal had the highest voter turnout of 73 per cent, while Maharashtra had the lowest at 49.04 per cent. Bihar, too, had a poor turnout of 52.82 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir had 54.67 per cent, Jharkhand recorded 63 per cent, Ladakh 67.15 per cent, Odisha 60.72 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 57.79 per cent.
In Mumbai, several film stars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar, were among those who came out to vote and also urged people to come out of their homes. The half-dozen Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai were along with 13 constituencies that voted in the fifth and last phase of elections in Maharashtra.
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, who is nursing a hand injury and just returned from her trip to the Cannes Film Festival, was also seen at a polling booth. Aamir Khan and his ex-wife Kiran Rao posed for cameras after voting at a polling booth in Bandra. The actor also urged people to come out and cast their votes. Shah Rukh Khan, wife Gauri, son Aryan, daughter Suhana and younger son AbRam were also photographed entering a polling station in Bandra. Actor Hema Malini, who’s a BJP candidate from the Mathura Lok Sabha constituency, said she is hopeful that voters’ turnout will be good.
Captains of industry, including bigwigs from the houses of Tatas, Ambanis and Birlas, joined fellow citizens in the financial capital. Some, like finance industry veteran Deepak Parekh, also spoke about the challenges, like the long wait times faced by people at booths, pointing out that the delay in sweltering heat may dissuade voters from stepping out of their homes and casting their ballot. Voting centres in many neighbourhoods of south Mumbai started witnessing queues very early in the morning, with Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran being among the first of the India Inc. leaders to exercise their franchise.
RBI governor Shaktikanta Das voted with family members at a school near his official residence in south Mumbai, while the richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, who resides a few blocks away, turned up at the same school later in the evening with his wife Nita and son Akash in tow. Noted industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla ecstatically told reporters that his 19-year-old younger daughter Advaitesha also cast the vote for the first time along with him and her elder sister Ananya. With Mumbai known for voter apathy, many industry leaders appealed to electors to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise to choose their Lok Sabha representatives.
In Uttar Pradesh, where voting took place for 14 constituencies, 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) were among those in the fray. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was in the fray from Rae Bareli, represented by his mother and former party president Sonia Gandhi earlier. Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati was among the early voters in Lucknow.
“I have voted, and I appeal to all voters to exercise their franchise,” she said. Mr Rajnath Singh, who is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow and is pitted against sitting Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA from Lucknow Central Ravidas Mehrotra, cast his vote at a polling booth in Vipul Khand here and also appealed to the people to vote. Irani, who is seeking a re-election from Amethi, cast her vote in the constituency. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited different polling booths in Rae Bareli and posed for pictures with the local residents. He also interacted with Congress booth workers in Bachhrawan and visited a Hanuman temple in Churuva.
In a post on X, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress, said, “Booth number 5, Rasulpur in Sareni in Rae Bareli, has been closed since 8 am and voters are going back. So this is how (the target of) 400 (seats) will be crossed!”
In other posts, the Congress alleged EVM malfunctioning and accused the BJP of not allowing people to cast votes in three booths in Bela Khara village in Rahi block.
SP candidate from Gonda constituency Shreya Verma complained to the Election Commission that fair polling was not taking place.
According to reports from Kaushambi, voters of Hisampur Madho village boycotted the polls. With not a single villager reaching the polling station till 10.20 am, administration officials were busy trying to convince the villagers to vote. The villagers, however, told the officials that they would consider voting only after the administration gave them an assurance to build a road and railway bridge connecting the village to other areas.
In Leh, lieutenant-governor Brig. B.D. Mishra (Retd) and his wife Neelam Mishra were among those who cast their votes at Skara Yokma in Leh. Well-known climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, who was in the news recently for leading a 66-day sit-in protest in Leh over demands such as safeguards under the 6th Schedule for Ladakh and statehood, cast his vote in Leh's Ulyaktopo village.
Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla constituency at 59.49 per cent registered its highest polling percentage in the last 40 years. National Conference vice-president Omar Abdullah, People's Conference president Sajad Gani Lone and jailed head of the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP) Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid were among the key candidates in the fray.
In Jharkhand, a total of 11 candidates, including Kalpana Soren, the wife of jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren, are in the fray. The BJP has fielded Dilip Kumar Verma from the Gandey Assembly seat. The seat fell vacant after the resignation of Sarfaraz Ahmad, who was recently elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed.
