India General Election 2024 Live Updates: Phase 7 turnout crosses 58% at 5 pm; TMC, PDP skip INDIA bloc meet at Kharge’s residence

A voter turnout of 58.34 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections across 57 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and Union Territories today. After the seven-phase elections draw to a close, all eyes will shift to the exit polls which will start emerging soon after the voting period officially ends till results are declared on June 4.

The voter turnout in Punjab reached 55.20 per cent at 5 pm in the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

A day after the Congress party had decided to boycott all Exit Poll discussions, saying that they do not want to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP, Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that all parties of the Opposition’s INDIA bloc have now decided to take part in the debates.

Senior leaders of the Opposition's INDIA bloc met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Saturday, the last day of polling in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Himachal Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Paty (BJP) filed a complaint against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, alleging violation of the Model Code of Conduct, for wearing a National Students' Union of India (NSUI) scarf while casting his vote in Nadaun.

The complaint was filed with the Chief Electoral Officer.

Nadaun falls in the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Senior INDIA bloc leaders met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence to discuss the alliance’s strategy for counting of votes, which is scheduled for June 4. However, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) were conspicuous by their absence. Opposition leaders who attended the meeting included Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Anil Desai, Sitaram Yechury, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwat Mann, Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, Champai Soren, Kalpana Soren, T R Baalu, Farooq Abdullah, D Raja and Mukesh Sahani, news agency PTI reported.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee cast her vote in the seventh and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

(Express photo by Partha Paul)

The voter turnout in Bihar reached 42.95 per cent at 3 pm in the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

Along with Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, Bihar is one of the three states that saw polling in all seven phases of the elections.

The voter turnout in West Bengal reached 58.46 per cent at 3 pm in the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

The state also saw incidents of violence during the polling process.

The voter turnout in Uttar Pradesh reached 46.83 per cent in the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

The voter turnout in Jharkhand touched 60.14 per cent in Jharkhand in the seventh and final phase of voting in the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

A voter turnout of 49.68 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections across 57 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and Union Territories today, the Election Commission said.

Punjab recorded a voter turnout of 46.38% at 3 pm.

Ludhiana recorded a voter turnout of 43.82% at 3 pm.

Chandigarh records 52.61 percent voter turnout till 3 pm.

BJD is winning 85 Assembly seats after 3rd phase polls and with the 4th phase tomorrow, it will end up winning more than 115 seats out of a total of 147 and 15 Lok Sabha seats out of 21; and form Government in Odisha with more than 3/4th majority, the party said in a post on X, quoting a spokesperson.

Amid heatwave conditions across large parts of North India, voter turnout in the seventh and last phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Saturday reached 40 per cent at 1 pm, as per the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app.

The app, which shows real-time approximate turnout percentages, showed an overall turnout of 40.09 per cent at 1 pm for the 57 Lok Sabha constituencies across eight states and Union Territories. Turnout in Himachal Pradesh, which had all its four seats go to polls on Saturday, was the highest at 1 pm at 48.63 per cent, while Bihar’s eight seats had the lowest turnout at 35.65 per cent.

Top leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet here on Saturday to discuss their strategy for the counting of votes on June 4, even as the TMC and PDP are set to skip the meeting.

Senior leaders of the Congress, CPI-M, CPI, DMK, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) will hold discussions at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence this afternoon.

TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already said they will not attend the meeting as there are elections in the state, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti is likely to skip the meeting.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann are also likely to attend the meeting, besides senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal.

DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said party leader T R Baalu will attend the meeting.

Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate Ferozepur Rajesh Dhiman says,” A case has come before us where BSP candidate Surinder Kamboj made a video of himself casting his vote. FIR has been registered against him for violation of rules. We urge all candidates to follow the rules and the law…Voting in the constituency is being conducted peacefully.”

BSP candidate for Ferozepur Lok Sabha seat Surinder Kamboj has been booked for allegedly getting his video recorded while casting his vote and making it public, officials said on Saturday.

Kamboj was filmed by an unidentified person while casting his vote at a polling station in Guruharsahai's Jiva Rai village.

Ferozepur Deputy Commissioner Rajesh Dhiman said Kamboj made the video public.

A case has been registered against Kamboj and an unidentified person under relevant sections of the Representation of People's Act, 1951 and the Indian Penal Code.

A voter turnout of 40.09 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the seventh and final phase.

Here’s a state-wise breakdown

Exit polls in India are conducted by a number of organisations, often in tie-ups with media organisations. The surveys can be conducted face to face or online.

Exit polls give an indication about how people voted in an election. They are arrived at on the basis of interviews with voters right after they exit the polling stations. Apart from this, other calculations related to voter data are also considered.

He says, "The meeting will begin at 2 pm. Our alliance will have discussions related to the elections. INDIA Alliance will get a good number of seats...All of that (NDA 400 paar slogan) is wrong..."

Top leaders of the opposition grouping will be meeting in the national capital in the afternoon to assess their performance in the Lok Sabha election and chalk out their strategy ahead of the results.

Sita, the sister-in-law of jailed former chief minister Hemant Soren, claimed that the voting process was being intentionally delayed.

"I have visited several booths in Dumka urban and found irregularities. I have informed the deputy commissioner in this regard. Inexperienced booth level officers (BLOs) have been deployed due to which electors are facing trouble," Sita said.

She alleged, "The delay is being done deliberately. I will write to Election Commission to cancel the voting here and conduct a re-poll." Sita raised the issue after receiving complaints from voters about delays at booth numbers 44 and 45.

Sita, a three-time JMM MLA, joined the BJP on March 20, citing "isolation" and "neglect" by the JMM since the death of her husband, Durga Soren, in 2009.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar denied her allegations and said polling is underway smoothly across three Lok Sabha constituencies — Dumka, Rajmahal and Godda.

TMC, ISF and BJP workers clashed in various parts of violence-prone Jadavpur and Diamond Harbour constituencies.

Although the poll panel has claimed that voting has been peaceful so far, it said it has received 1,450 complaints until 11 am from different political parties alleging EVM malfunctions and agents being stopped from entering booths.

n a phased election such as the current one, the first and last days of voting also become big events. But for many in India, the most awaited event is the day when exit polls are released.

Exit polls give estimates about how people voted in an election. They are arrived at on the basis of interviews with voters right after they exit the polling stations, as well as other calculations related to voter data.

A large number of Indians give the same importance to exit polls as they do to the actual results.

The science of surveys, which includes exit polls, works on the assumption that data were collected after interviewing a large number of respondents using a structured questionnaire, whether over the telephone or face-to-face.

"I have visited several booths in the city and found irregularities about which I have informed the DC. I have been receiving calls from everywhere. I will write to the Election Commission to cancel the election and order repolling," says BJP Dumka candidate Sita Soren.

The Dumka constituency lies at the heart of Jharkhand’s migrant labour crisis, which is witnessing a heated electoral fight between BJP candidate Sita Soren – the elder daughter-in-law of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren – and JMM veteran Nalin Soren, a founding member of the tribal party.

This contest is said to be more than an electoral tussle – it is a fight for dominance between the JMM and the BJP over a seat known as a traditional JMM stronghold from where Shibu Soren has won multiple times.

As voting in the last phase of Lok Sabha polls 2024 draws to a close on Saturday (June 1), all eyes will be on the exit polls, which will give an idea of how India voted in the 18th general elections.

The exit poll results will start coming in after 6 pm on June 1 (Saturday). The counting of votes and result declaration will take place on June 4 (Tuesday).

It’s a crucial fight for Tejashwi who, having proved the stomach for it in the 2020 Assembly polls, now needs to show he can continue irrespective of repeated setbacks and loss of power courtesy a vacillating Nitish Kumar. How 34-year-old Tejashwi performs could also determine INDIA’s fortunes at the Centre, with a crucial 40 seats at stake in Bihar, of which the BJP-led NDA had won 39 in 2019.

For nearly a month now, the man on whom the INDIA campaign almost entirely rests in Bihar, has been on the road rallying support for the coalition, popping painkillers, wearing a lumbo sacral belt for back relief, and using a wheelchair when he can.

"Today, I am raising an issue relating to deletion of electorate names from the voters' list. This is happening on a large scale in many areas. Sometimes, name of a person from a particular community or caste gets deleted," says Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal as 57 constituencies go to polls in the seventh and final phase of polls.

24x7 analysis only on http://indianexpress.com

About 28 per cent polling recorded till 11 am from nine constituencies in West Bengal.

According to Election Commission, till 11 am, about 1,450 complaints were lodged by political parties, alleging EVM malfunctioning, agents being stopped from entering polling booths and voters being threatened or stopped from going to cast their votes in different constituencies.

Polling is being held in nine seats in West Bengal amid tight security arrangements which are Dum Dum (24.83 %), Barasat (27.86 %), Basirhat (32.57 %), Jaynagar (30.25 %), Mathurapur (30.50 %), Diamond Harbour (31.51 %), Jadavpur (26.59 %), Kolkata Dakshin (24.02 %) and Kolkata Uttar (24.02 %) seats.

The polling booth at Patiala, where Capt Amarinder Singh is a registered voter, wears a deserted look at 11.30 am.

Express photo by Kanchan Vasdev

A voter turnout of 26.3 per cent was recorded till 11 am in the seventh and final phase.

Here’s a state-wise breakdown

“A lot of changes are needed in the film industry. Medical and pension-related requirements for the artists. The biggest example is Saroj Khan, who said she didn’t have the money to pay the hospital bills. I empathise with these people,” says BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi Lok Sabha seat Kangana Ranaut during a press conference.

Congress candidate from Mandi Lok Sabha seat Vikramaditya Singh says "We have got a very good response from the people of Mandi. It will be the victory of 14 lakh people of Mandi and not just Vikramaditya Singh. I appeal to the people to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to vote..."

"Today morning at 6.40 am Reserve EVMs & papers of Sector Officer near Benimadhavpur FP school, at 129-Kultali AC of 19-Jaynagar (SC) PC has been looted by local mob and 1 CU, 1 BU , 2VVPAT machines have been thrown inside a pond.

Sector Police was a little behind. FIR has been lodged by Sector Officer and necessary action has been initiated. Poll process in all six booths under the Sector is running uninterrupted. Fresh EVM and papers have been provided to the Sector Officer."

Tashigang is a tiny village perched high in the icy Himalayas at a staggering altitude of 15,256 feet. This village holds the distinction of hosting the highest polling station in the world.

Located near the India-China border, the Spiti valley is part of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, one of the four parliamentary constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and the second largest in India. Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is up against the Congress's Vikramaditya Singh from the seat.

The polling station at Tashigang, serving 62 voters from Tashigang and Gete, has been made a model polling booth.

The outcome in UP will be key to the “400 paar” target the BJP has set for the NDA’s return.

But the ruling alliance appears to be in a close fight in at least 27 constituencies – in west, central, and east UP – of which 20 are among the 64 seats that the NDA won in 2019. The reasons for this vary from local sentiments against sitting MPs, caste equations, and the choice of candidates of the Opposition INDIA bloc.

The 20 constituencies that the NDA currently holds and where it faces a tough fight from the INDIA bloc are: Ayodhya, Chandauli, Bansgaon, Kheri, Pratapgarh, Kairana, Aligarh, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Pilibhit, Mohanlalganj, Amethi, Kannauj, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Barabanki, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Azamgarh, and Badaun. Of these constituencies, the ruling alliance changed candidates in Pilibhit, Barabanki, Firozabad, Allahabad, Robertsganj, and Badaun.

Rose water being served to voters at a polling booth in Ludhiana

At Ferozepur, water being served in earthen utensils at a green booth.

Now, the same day that it announced the seven-phase general elections, the Election Commission had also circulated an advisory to all the state electoral officers on the risks from heatwave and the steps to be taken on the voting day to minimise these risks for the voters. It talked about the special arrangements to be made at every polling booth – drinking water, shade, medical kits, toilets, queue management – to deal with the likely impacts of excessively high temperatures.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi urged people on Saturday to vote in large numbers and deal a "final blow" to "this government which has become a symbol of arrogance and tyranny".

"I am proud that even in this scorching heat, all of you have come out to vote to protect democracy and the Constitution," the former Congress president said in a post in Hindi on X. "Even today, come out in large numbers and give your vote as a 'final blow' to this government, which has become a symbol of arrogance and tyranny," he said.

A voter turnout of 11.31 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of polling in the seventh and final phase.

Here's a state-wise breakdown till 9 am

"I want to appeal to everyone to exercise their Constitutional rights and participate in this festival of democracy," says actor and BJP candidate from Himachal Pradesh's Mandi seat Kangana Ranaut after casting her vote.

Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh of the Congress is up against actor who is contesting on a BJP ticket.

"Modi has accepted his defeat as he has left Kashi. People of Kashi are with us. Congress has certainly taken the right decision," says Congress candidate from Varanasi Ajay Rai on Congress deciding to skip Lok Sabha exit poll debates.

"By not choosing to meditate at the banks of Ganga River and going to the South, I believe he (PM Modi) has insulted Kashi. He should have stayed in Kashi," he said after casting his vote.

WATCH | EVM and VVPAT machine were reportedly thrown in water by a mob at booth number 40, 41 in KultaLi, South 24 Parganas. PTI

After casting his vote at a polling booth in Belgachia, BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty says, "...I am a BJP cadre, not a leader. I have done my duty..."

With the BJD having the advantage of being the state-bred regional party, the BJP harped on the exponential rise of Patnaik’s close confidant and bureaucrat-turned-politician V K Pandian, and on his Tamil origins.

In his very first meeting in Odisha, on May 6, Modi set the tone by saying that a BJP CM would take oath in the state on June 10. Pandian responded by saying that Patnaik would not only return as CM but be sworn in on June 9.

For the BJD too, the elections are momentous, as a sixth straight term in power would help Patnaik beat the record of Pawan Kumar Chamling of Sikkim to become the longest-serving CM in the country.

Meanwhile, the Congress tried to build a narrative as the “real Opposition”, highlighting the BJD and BJP’s efforts to form a coalition.

The Election Commission, in a press release on the eve of the last phase, said: “Polling parties have been dispatched along with machines and poll materials to their respective polling stations. Polling stations are ready to welcome the voters with all basic facilities including ample shade, drinking water, ramps, and toilets to ensure that polling takes place in a comfortable and secure environment… CEOs and State machineries have been directed to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather or rainfall wherever predicted.”

“In spite of hot weather conditions, voters have turned up in huge numbers at the polling stations in the past phases. In the last two phases, female voter turnout percentage has surpassed male voter turnout. The Commission has called upon voters to turn out in greater numbers at polling stations and vote with responsibility and pride,” the EC said.

The Basirhat Lok Sabha seat including Sandeshkhali has been a TMC stronghold and the party remains confident of taking the lead in most segments. This is even if Sandeshkhali goes with BJP following charges against local TMC leaders.

Girls perform Gidda at a polling booth in Mohali and urge eligible voters to cast their vote. All 13 Parliamentary constituencies of the state are going to polls today.

The parliamentary seats where polling will take place in the state are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC), spread across 11 districts.

Besides Modi, there are 143 candidates in the fray. Of them, 134 are male candidates and 10 are female candidates.

"Today is the final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. As 57 seats across 8 states and UTs go to the polls, calling upon the voters to turnout in large numbers and vote. I hope young and women voters exercise their franchise in record numbers. Together, let’s make our democracy more vibrant and participative," PM Modi said in a post on X this morning.

A total of 904 candidates are in the fray Saturday. The BSP has fielded the most candidates at 56, followed by the BJP with 51, and the Congress 31. With all of Punjab voting, the state has the most candidates in this phase with 328, followed by 144 candidates for 13 seats in UP, 134 for 8 seats in Bihar, and 124 for 9 seats in West Bengal.

AAP leader Raghav Chadha standing in a queue at a polling booth in Lakhnaur in Mohali to cast his vote.

He appealed to the people of Punjab to come out and vote in large numbers. "I want the Punjabis to vote for the leader who would raise their issues," he adds, speaking to mediapersons near the booth.

Amid tight security arrangements, polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

INDIA bloc allies -- the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) -- are contesting separately while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are contesting the Lok Sabha polls on their own for the first time since 1996.

Voters wait their turn to cast their vote at a polling station in West Bengal (Express photo by Partha Paul)

After six phases of the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal, during which the top two contenders – the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and BJP – had their attention fixed on each other, the two have put the CPI(M) in their crosshairs for the seventh and last phase on June 1.

The last phase will see voting for all 13 seats in Punjab and all four seats in Himachal Pradesh. The other states that will vote are Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal — polling spans all seven phases — and Jharkhand and Odisha. The Union Territory of Chandigarh too will vote Saturday.

Welcome to the live blog!

Votes will be cast n 57 parliamentary constituencies spread across eight states and a Union Territory in the seventh and last phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections today. Stay with us as we bring you latest updates from polling booths across the country.