Almost nine crore voters will choose their representatives across 49 parliamentary constituencies in eight states and Union territories in Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections on May 20. 

Yet, the nation’s eyes will be focused on a few pockets where high-profile candidates are seeking the people’s mandate. 

The northern-most of these contests is taking place amid the snow-clad peaks of Kashmir, where former chief minister Omar Abdullah is facing off against Fayaz Ahmad of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) for the Baramulla seat. In the last election, the National Conference’s Akbar Lone won this seat when the voter turnout was recorded at 34.6%.

Meanwhile, in Uttar Pradesh, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is squaring off against Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra, and will be hoping to repeat his 2019 win in the Lucknow constituency.

Rahul Gandhi is taking over for his mother Sonia Gandhi as the Congress candidate in Rae Bareli, the only UP constituency to have gone to the party in 2019. Interestingly, the BJP has fielded Member of the Legislative Council Dinesh Pratap Singh for this seat, despite his loss to the Congress party chief in the previous election. 

Another important seat in UP is that of Amethi, which will see Union Minister Smriti Irani attempt to hold on to her position as MP for the BJP. Hoping to topple her are Gandhi-family loyalist Kailash Sharma from the Congress and the BSP’s Nanhe Singh Chauhan. Notably, in 2019, Irani beat Rahul Gandhi to take Amethi amid a voter turnout of 54.08%.

Moving east to Bihar, LJP (Ram Vilas)’s Chirag Paswan and RJD’s Shiv Chandra Ram will be battling it out for the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency. In 2019, LJP’s Pasupati Paras had won from Hajipur, which saw a voter turnout of 55.26%.

Other prominent leaders in this phase are Shiv Sena's Shrikant Shinde, son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, from Kalyan, former WFI chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh's son Karan Bhushan Singh in UP's Kaiserganj, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya against BJP's Rajiv Pratap Rudy in Saran, and Trinamool Congress candidate and TV anchor Rachna Banerjee versus actress-turned-politician Locket Chatterjee of the BJP in West Bengal's Hooghly.

Around 94,732 polling stations have been set up for the 4.69 crore men, 4.26 crore women and 5,409 third-gender voters who will exercise their franchise on May 20, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has stated. More than 7.81 lakh voters above the age of 85 years, 24, 792 centenarians, and 7.03 lakh persons with disabilities have chosen to vote from home, the ECI added. 

“In the first four phases about 66.95% voter turnout has been recorded,” it also said.  

Polling will also take place on May 20 for 35 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha Legislative Assembly, the ECI stated on May 19.

The last and seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections will be held on June 1 while the counting of votes has been scheduled for June 4.

The election commission said that a total of 216 international border check posts and 565 inter-state border check posts have also been set up to keep a strict vigil on any illicit flow of liquor, drugs, cash and freebies.

The commission has also provided 12 alternative documents other than the voter ID card (EPIC) for identity verification at polling stations.

(With input from IANS)

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