New Delhi:
Voters from 96 constituencies across nine states and one Union Territories will choose representatives to Lok Sabha in the fourth phase of election today. Andhra Pradesh and Odisha will also pick their next government in simultaneous elections.
Here are the Top 10 points in this big story:
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Ten states and Union Territories, including Andhra Pradesh (25), Bihar (5), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (8), Maharashtra (11), Odisha (4), Telangana (17), Uttar Pradesh (13), West Bengal (8), and Jammu and Kashmir (1), are voting today.
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Forty-two of the 96 seats (44 per cent) are spread across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. This phase will see the conclusion of polling in the southern states.
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Jammu and Kashmir will have its first election since 2019 today. Polling will be held for Srinagar constituency — one of the two Lok Sabha seats in the Union Territory. Polling for the Anantnag-Rajouri seat has been deferred to May 25 after objections from the BJP.
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This phase is dominated by the non-aligned parties like Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal and YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress. Neither party has officially joined the ruling dispensation or the Opposition bloc, though they have given “issue-based support” to the Central government multiple times in parliament.
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Today’s voting comes in the shadow of Opposition questions about the role of the Election Commission after it sent notices to the Congress and BJP chiefs after controversial comments by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi.
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There was good news for the Aam Aadmi Party, though, with Arvind Kejriwal getting an interim bail from the Supreme Court. Mr Kejriwal, arrested in the liquor policy case, will have to surrender on June 2, the day after the seven-phase election ends.
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A number of senior leaders from the BJP and the Opposition are in fray, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh and Ajay Mishra, whose son is in jail in connection with the farmers’ death in Lakhimpur Kheri after his car ran them over.
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The key Opposition leaders contesting today include Trinamool Congress’s Mohua Moitra, who is hoping to get back in parliament after her suspension over the alleged cash-for-questions issue.
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Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress’s Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Trinamool’s Shatrughan Sinha and National Conference’s Omar Abdullah are also in fray.
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The next phase of election is due on May 20. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 after the last phase of the election ends on June 1.