The fate of Rahul Gandhi, Locket-Rachna, Smriti Irani, Rajnath Singh was tested in the fifth phase of India’s 18th Lok Sabha elections. As they were all candidates in Monday’s vote, from cricket master blaster Sachin Tendulkar to Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Deepika Padukone also took part in the vote. Virtually in a festive mood, entire Bollywood families went to vote on this day.
The fifth phase of polling in India’s 49 constituencies, including seven in West Bengal, was completed amid scattered disturbances and complaints. Voting starts from 7 am on Monday and continues till 6 pm. However, polling continued till 7 pm in some centers as voters entered the booths in large numbers before 6 pm. The voter turnout was close to 65 percent till 5 pm. However, this rate may increase a little.
Apart from Bengal, voting was held in five constituencies of Bihar and three Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand. In addition, 13 parliamentary constituencies in Maharashtra, five in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir saw almost seamless polling. As in the previous four rounds, this time also West Bengal was ahead of other states in terms of voting rate.
The average voter turnout in West Bengal till 5 pm today is 73 percent. Since polling is still going on after 6 pm, the Election Commission feels that the final voter turnout may go up by a few percentage points.
Two famous Tollywood actresses – Trinamool’s Didi Number One Rachna Banerjee and BJP’s former Member of Parliament Locket Chatterjee – joined the face-to-face battle in the Hooghly Centre. Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases in India. The sixth phase of voting will be held on May 25. After the seventh phase of voting on June 1, the election results will be known on June 4.
Bollywood celebrities thronged polling booths since Monday morning for the fifth phase of voting in India. Many B-Town veterans and newcomers joined the democracy festival. Aamir Khan voted for his ex-wife Kiran Rao. Ranveer Singh came to the polling station with his pregnant wife Deepika Padukone. The actress’s ‘baby bump’ was caught on camera for the first time. The star couple wears color matching outfits. Ranveer Singh followed his wife in the crowd and entered the booth. The mega hit film ‘Jawaan’ taught him the lesson of government building on the silver screen. This time, Shah Rukh Khan joined the democracy festival in Mumbai with his family. Khan has been branded a ‘traitor’ several times for defying his religion. But still, King Khan always raised his voice for the development of the country. On Monday, Badshah-Shahrukh participated in the election process with wife Gauri Khan, daughter Suhana, son Aryan Khan.
Many famous cricketers of India participated in the election on this day. Sachin Tendulkar is the ‘National Icon’ of the National Election Commission of India. Although he retired from the cricket field a decade ago, he is the main face of the vote campaign. Master Blaster voted in Mumbai. Son Arjun was with him. They did not ‘holiday’, they fulfilled their ‘duty’ by voting. Former cricketer Sunil Gavaskar participated in the voting festival. After exercising democratic rights, the Little Master said that everyone should vote, because it is their government too. Every vote matters. National team cricketer Suryakumar Yadav, Ankit Rahane and others voted.
The fate of 695 candidates was determined in the fifth round of elections. The heavyweight candidates in this phase were Rahul Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal, Omar Abdullah and Chirag Paswan. BJP has again nominated Union Minister BJP leader Smriti Irani from Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.
He has been investigating the polling situation of his center since this morning. He also voted in Gauriganj village under Amethi Lok Sabha. Smriti Irani defeated Congress candidate Rahul in this seat in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand, Rahul Gandhi has become a candidate for the second seat in Uttar Pradesh’s Rae Bareli. Even though he is not a voter of Rae Bareli, he is in his center on the day of polling. On the day of polling, he performed puja at the Hanuman temple.
The seven Lok Sabha constituencies in West Bengal that have gone to polls are Bangaon, Barakpur, Howrah, Ulberia, Srirampur, Hooghly and Arambagh. Voting took place in 13 thousand 481 polling stations. 799 companies of Central Security Force were deployed to ensure smooth polling. Some isolated incidents happened in West Bengal on this day. Trinamool activists have been accused of beheading a BJP leader in Khanakul, Arambagh.
Trinamool workers did not allow BJP agents to enter the polling stations in Amdanga. Besides, Trinamool has vandalized the office of CPM’s area committee in Howrah’s Salkia, the Election Commission has complained.
