24 percent voter turnout till 11 am

New Delhi: Voting for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway with 24 percent voter turnout reported till 11 am this morning.  A total of 49 Lok Sabha Constituencies in six States and two Union Territories are going to polls this phase. These include 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 13 in Maharashtra, seven in West Bengal, five each in Odisha and Bihar, three in Jharkhand along with one each in Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Polling is also taking place in Odisha for the second phase of Assembly elections for 35 Constituencies.

A total of 695 candidates are in the fray among them prominent candidates include Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Piyush Goyal and Smriti Irani, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and K.L. Sharma, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference and Chirag Paswan of LJP (Ram Vilas).

The Election Commission has made arrangements for smooth and transparent polling. Over 9, 47,000 officials have been deployed across 94 thousand 732 polling stations. Facilities like water, sheds, ramps, volunteers and wheelchairs are available at the polling stations.

So far, polling for 379 Parliamentary Constituencies across 23 States and Union Territories has concluded, recording a total voter turnout of nearly 67 percent.

The 6th phase of polling is scheduled on May 25. A total of 889 candidates from eight States/Union Territories (UTs) will contest elections.