The sixth phase of voting, which will decide the fate of 889 candidates contesting across 58 seats, will be held on Saturday. The polling for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir will also be held in this phase. The election here was postponed from phase three to phase six due to logistical issues owing to adverse weather conditions.
A total of over 11.13 crore people, including 5.84 crore men, 5.29 crore women, and 5,120 third-gender electors, are eligible to vote in the sixth phase. The Election Commission has made all the arrangements to ensure smooth and peaceful polling.
The sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls includes eight seats in Bihar, all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, and eight in West Bengal.
All parliamentary seats in Delhi and Haryana will go to the polls in this phase.
Prominent Candidates In Phase 6
Among the prominent candidates in the fray include two former Chief Ministers, Manohar Lal Khattar and Mehbooba Mufti. Khattar is contesting as the candidate from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Karnal, and Mehbooba Mufti as the PDP nominee from Anantnag-Rajouri. Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, and former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi are also in the fray.
Bansuri Swaraj, Somnath Bharti, Manoj Tiwari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Dinesh Lal Yadav, alias 'Nirahua', Dharmendra Yadav, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul, Naveen Jindal, Raj Babbar, Deepender Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, and Aparajita Sarangia are among the other prominent candidates in the fray.
Key Seats In Phase Phase 6
Among the key seats for phase six of the polls are New Delhi, North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi and Chandni Chowk in the national capital, and Sultanpur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh. Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri, West Bengal's Tamluk, Medinipur, Haryana's Karnal, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Rohtak, and Odisha's Bhubaneswar, Puri, and Sambalpur are some of the other key seats.
The stakes are high for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as for Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and other constituents of INDIA bloc in this phase of the election. The contest in Delhi has the AAP and Congress jointly taking on the BJP, which won all seven Lok Sabha seats in the national capital in the last two elections.
While Congress is contesting on three seats in the national capital, AAP is contesting on four. The two parties are part of the INDIA bloc.
Phase 6 Of LS Polls: Campaigning
The campaign for phase 6 of the polls witnessed rallies of top leaders across all political parties. The BJP campaign has been bolstered by rallies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and other party leaders. Senior leaders of Congress have also held rallies in the national capital.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been released on interim bail by the Supreme Court in the Delhi excise policy case, also sought votes for AAP and Congress candidates.
The AAP and Congress have also joined hands in Haryana, where BJP won all the seats in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Some seats in the state, including Hisar, are witnessing multi-cornered contests.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission said that the concerned CEOs and state officials have been directed to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted. The polling stations will have ample shade, drinking water, ramps, toilets, and other basic facilities to ensure that polling takes place in a comfortable and secure environment.
(With input from agencies)