- 24.87 percent turnout recorded till 11 am as polling underway in 96 constituencies: reports Indian Express
- Andhra Pradesh: Andhra Pradesh recorded 23.1 per cent voter turnout for the 25 Lok Sabha seats while it was 23 per cent for the 175-seat Assembly at 11 am in the state, an Election Commission app said. YSRCP leader and Tenali MLA A Shiva Kumar allegedly manhandled a voter at Tenali following an argument with voters, which also resulted in the voter retaliating, according to police.
- Jammu and Kashmir: A 14.94 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the first four hours of polling in the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, higher than the overall turnout of the 2019 elections for the seat in Jammu and Kashmir, according to official figures.
- Telangana: Telangana recorded an approximate voter turnout of 24.31 per cent till 11 am on Monday as polling was underway for 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, according to an Election Commission app. Polling which began at 7 am will end by 6 pm, barring at a few places where it will conclude two hours earlier. Observing that no law and order or any other problem had been reported in the early hours of polling, state Chief Electoral Officer Vikas Raj said some issues that cropped up in EVMs during mock polling have been addressed.
- Uttar Pradesh: A voter turnout of 27.12 per cent was recorded till 11 am on Monday in Uttar Pradesh where polling is underway in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the fourth round of the seven-phase general elections. Akbarpur parliamentary constituency has recorded 25.60 per cent polling, Bahraich 28.63 per cent, Dhaurahra 29.79 per cent, Etawah 24.68 per cent, Farrukhabad 27.88 per cent, Hardoi 27.12 per cent, Kannauj 29.90 per cent, Kanpur 21.36 per cent, Kheri 29.20 per cent, Misrikh 27.03 per cent, Shahjahanpur 25.05 per cent, Sitapur 29.29 per cent and Unnao 27.09 per cent, according to EC data.
- Madhya Pradesh: An average voter turnout of 32.38 per cent was recorded till 11 am in eight Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh where polling was underway in the fourth and last phase of general elections in the state. Among the eight seats, Dewas recorded 35.83 per cent polling, Ujjain 34.25 per cent, Mandsour 34.12 per cent, Ratlam 34.04 per cent, Dhar 32.62 per cent, Indore 25.01 per cent, Khargone 33.52 per cent and Khandwa 31.87, as per official figures. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav was among the early voters. He exercised his franchise in Ujjain, his home town, along with his family members
- Maharashtra: A voter turnout of 17.51 per cent was recorded till 11 am on Monday in 11 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra where polling is underway in the fourth phase of the general election, the state electoral office said. Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm in Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed constituencies, an official said. As per data shared by the authorities, the tribal-dominated seat of Nandurbar recorded 22.12 per cent voting, while Jalgaon saw 16.89 per cent turnout till 11 am.
- Jharkhand: Nearly 27 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am in four Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand. Voting started at 7 am in Singhbhum, Lohardaga, Khunti and Palamu seats amid tight security measures, marking the first phase of elections in the eastern state, and will continue till 5 pm. Maoist-hit Singhbhum seat saw about 26.16 per cent voter turnout till 11 am while the same was at 29.14 per cent, about 27.77 per cent and 26.95 per cent in Khunti, Lohardaga and Palamu seats respectively.
- Odisha: Around 23.28 per cent voter turnout has been recorded in four Lok Sabha constituencies and 28 Assembly segments in Odisha till 11 am on Monday, officials said. Long queues of people were seen in front of all the 7,303 booths where peaceful polling is underway.
- Bihar: Around 22.54 per cent of over 95 lakh voters in five Lok Sabha constituencies in Bihar have exercised their franchise till 11 am. Voting for the five Lok Sabha seats in Bihar to decide the fate of 55 candidates began at 7 am in Begusarai, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Munger and Darbhanga and will continue till 6 pm. Over 23.69 per cent of voters have exercised their franchise in Samastipur, 22.85 per cent in Munger, 22.79 per cent in Ujiarpur, 22.73 per cent in Darbhanga and 20.93 per cent in Begusarai till 11 am. Approximately 95.85 lakh electors are eligible to exercise their franchise across 5,398 polling stations, the official said.
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An approximate voter turnout of 10.35 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of polling on Monday in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections amid complaints of EVM malfunctioning in West Bengal. Voting is also progressing in all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 28 legislative assembly seats of Odisha. According to the Election Commission, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed the lowest voting percentage till 9 am with 5.07 per cent voters exercising their franchise, while West Bengal recorded the highest with 15.24 per cent.
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Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, BJP chief in Telangana G Kishan Reddy, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, popular Telugu actors Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun and Junior NTR were among the prominent persons who exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections in Telangana.
- Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu along with their respective family members, were among the early voters in Andhra Pradesh
Polling is being held on Monday in 96 constituencies in 10 states and Union territories, including all 25 in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and 17 in Telangana.
In 2019, BJP had won nearly half of the seats at 42, followed by the YSR Congress Party, which swept Telangana winning 22 of the 25.
Among the key candidates in Phase 4 of the election is Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav contesting from the former party stronghold of Kannauj, which the BJP had won on 2019. A former four-time MP, Yadav, son of the late socialist leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, had been elected thrice from Kannauj.
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In 2019, he contested from Azamgarh and won, while his wife Dimple lost from the seat of Kannauj. At present leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Yadav is back in the run for the Lok Sabha to counter the BJP, which has established near total control over Uttar Pradesh’s politics. The consecration of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya is believed to be one of the key factors that would keep Uttar Pradesh firmly with the BJP.
This election is a litmus test for Yadav and his reinvented friendship with the Congress and Rahul Gandhi, both parties have formalised a seat-sharing arrangement ahead of the Lok Sabha elections to see if they can recover lost ground in the state. Fighting together and separately in two Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections, the BJP has trounced them in both.
“After our direct appeal to the members of the Bahujan Samaj, the manner in which they have come forward to support has added to our strength in the fight to protect the Constitution,” Yadav said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday morning. The presence of the BSP, which has never won any of these six constituencies, could hurt the SP’s chances thus Yadav’s appeal to voters, who form the chunk of Mayawati’s support base.
The BJP has reposed its faith on controversial junior home minister Ajay Singh Teni, whose son was accused of running down protesting farmers in the constituency of Lakhimpur Kheri, despite protestations of farmers’ rights groups against Teni’s candidature.
Also in the fray are Union ministers Nityananda Rai from Ujiarpur in Bihar and Raosaheb Danve from Maharashtra’s Jalna. Union minister Giriraj Singh is the nominee from Bihar’s Begusarai, while former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda is contesting on a BJP ticket from Khunti.
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In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, voters in Indore would have had to sit out like those in Surat in the last phase, as the main Opposition candidate, Akshay Kanti Bam, of the Congress withdrew his nomination at the last moment leaving no time for the party to find a replacement. Unlike in Surat, Independent candidates have remained in the fight in Indore, thus keeping open for the citizens the right to exercise their votes.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi is attempting a fifth straight term from Hyderabad. He is pitted against the BJP nominee, actress Maadhavi Latha, who was seen aiming an imaginary arrow at a mosque while campaigning in the old city of Hyderabad.
In Maharashtra, the battle for supremacy being played out between the rival factions of the Shiv Sena, led by Uddhav Thackeray and state chief minister Eknath Shinde, and the faction of the Nationalist Congress party headed by the Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar against his nephew, the Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s faction, as well as the Congress and the BJP continues as 11 constituencies spread across central Marathwada and the northern and western parts of the state go to polls.
A reason to cheer for the Opposition alliance, INDIA, is the release on bail of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal ahead of the fourth phase of polling. He has in the last two days, promptly gone back into attack mode against the ruling BJP.
Unlike the previous three phases, where the prevailing heat conditions was believed to have impacted the voter turnout, the Election Commission on Sunday cited an Indian Meteorological Department report to , claim that there was no forecast of adverse weather conditions in Phase 4.
