Election 2019 Phase 4 Voting HIGHLIGHTS: While Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav is making his political debut against sitting MP and Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath is the Congress candidate for the MP's Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat. Bihar's Begusarai will witness an electrifying contest where CPI debutant Kanhaiya Kumar take on BJP veteran Giriraj Singh.
Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Phase 4: Battle for Maharashtra
In Mumbai North Central, sitting MP Poonam Mahajan will take on former MP Priya Dutt. While Dutt has managed to draw crowds after her brother Sanjay Dutt campaigned for her, there has been no massive groundswell of support in her favour. Meanwhile, in the BJP bastion of Mumbai North, Congress candidate Urmila Matondkar put up the most spirited campaign in the city against sitting BJP MP Gopal Shetty.
Read | Mumbai votes today, BJP-Sena edge in 3 seats
In Mumbai North West, which has the largest number of voters in the city and where former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam is contesting against sitting Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar, the Congress is hoping disgruntled Marathi votes will swing to its kitty, on the back of Raj Thackeray’s say-so, even though he did not campaign in this constituency.
The Congress, meanwhile, is also betting on itself to put up a good performance in Mumbai South where Milind Deora takes on sitting Sena MP Arvind Sawant. The Congress believes the endorsement of Deora by Reliance head Mukesh Ambani has raised the party’s prospects.
Campaigning for the fourth phase of the elections ended Saturday with candidates making a last effort to sway voters in favour of their parties. Among the key contestants in Maharashtra, actress Urmila Matondkar is contesting from North Mumbai constituency and Sanjay Dutt's sister Priya Dutt will battle it out from Mumbai North Central. In Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav is contesting from Kannauj while in West Bengal’s Asansol, singer and sitting MP Babul Supriyo of the BJP will lock horns with Trinamool Congress leader and veteran actress Moon Moon Sen.
Read | In UP leather belt that votes today, closed tanneries cast shadow
Polling in the first three phases of the parliamentary elections have seen moderate turnout with a total of 69.43% turnout in the first phase on April 11. The second phase on April 18 and the third phase on April 23 witnessed 67.1% and 66% turnout,
Incidents of violence in West Bengal and EVM glitches in some areas were reported as 64 per cent turnout was recorded on Monday in 72 constituencies across nine states in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
In the heartland states, where the BJP had won 30 out of 32 seats in 2014, 62 per cent turnout was recorded in Rajasthan, 53.12 per cent in Uttar Pradesh and 65.86 per cent Madhya Pradesh.
monthly limit of free stories.
with an Express account.
West Bengal recorded a high turnout at 76.47 in the eight seats. Nearly 52 per cent voting was recorded in Maharashtra, 64.05 per cent Odisha, 53.67 per cent Bihar and 63.42 per cent Jharkhand, according to data provided by the Election Commission till 6 PM.
In Kulgam district of Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir, 10.3 per cent polling was recorded.
(PTI)
The voter turnout in Mumbai was recorded at 51.11 per cent Monday, almost similar to the voting percentage of 51.59 in the 2014 polls.
The overall percentage in the 17 seats when polling ended at 5 pm was 52.07 per cent, compared to 55.83 per cent in these seats during the 2014 elections, PTI reported.
Nandurbar seat in north Maharashtra recorded the highest 64.44 per cent voting while Kalyan near Mumbai saw the lowest 41.64 per cent polling.
Voting figures for other seats are as follows: Dhule-50.97 per cent, Dindori- 58.20 per cent, Nashik- 53.09 per cent, Palghar- 57.60 per cent, Bhiwandi 48.90 per cent, Thane-46.42 per cent, Mumbai North- 54.72 per cent, Mumbai North West 50.44 per cent, Mumbai North East- 52.30 per cent, Mumbai North Central- 49.49 per cent, Mumbai South Central-51.53 per cent, Mumbai South- 48.23 per cent, Maval- 52.74 per cent, Shirur- 52.45 per cent and Shirdi- 56.19 per cent.
A voter turnout of 67.78 per cent was recorded in Rajasthan's 13 Lok Sabha seats which went to the polls Monday, PTI reported.
According to a tentative break-up made available earlier, the tribal dominated seat of Banswara recorded the highest voting percentage at 72.34, followed by Barmer which recorded 72.21 per cent voting.
Chittorgarh and Jhalwar-Baran also recorded 71.29 and 70.95 per cent voting.
Voters are still lined up in front of several polling booths and the final figure will be known later.
Voter turnout for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh which went to the polls Monday was recorded at 57.58 per cent, slightly lower than in 2014. In 2014, the turnout was 58.39 per cent over the same 13 constituencies. (PTI)
People waiting in a queue to cast their votes outside a polling station during the fourth phase of the general elections in Gulzarabad south Kashmir's Kulgam. (Express Photo by Shuaib Masoodi)
A voter turnout of 67.13 per cent was recorded till 6 pm in Rajasthan's 13 Lok Sabha seats which went to polls Monday, PTI reported.
Tribal dominated seat of Banswara recorded the highest voting percentage at 72.34, followed by Barmer which recorded 72.21 per cent voting. Chittorgarh and Jhalwar-Baran also recorded 71.29 and 70.95 per cent voting.
An average 66.09 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 6 pm across six Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh that went to polls Monday, an official told PTI.
Voting figures till 6 pm were as follows: Sidhi- 56.82 per cent, Shahdol- 66.89 per cent, Jabalpur- 64.05 per cent, Mandla 67.09 per cent, Balaghat 70.13 per cent and Chhindwara-72.95 per cent.
An average 63 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 pm across six Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh Monday, an official told PTI.
Voting figures till 5 pm were as follows: Sidhi- 47.76 per cent, Shahdol- 64.89 per cent, Jabalpur- 64.05 per cent, Mandla 64.54 per cent, Balaghat 66.88 per cent and Chhindwara- 71.71 per cent.
EVMs were also replaced at 106 polling booths due to malfunctioning after the voting began.
An average 55.31 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 4 pm across six Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh Monday, an official said.
"An average 55.31 per cent turnout was recorded till 4 pm," an election official said.
The voting figures till 4 pm were as follows: Sidhi-46.85 per cent, Shahdol-55.93 per cent, Jabalpur- 53.87 per cent, Mandla -56.16 per cent, Balaghat -60.18 per cent and Chhindwara- 59.87 per cent.
(PTI)
NCP candidate from Nashik Sameer Bhujabal's mother's name goes missing from voters list. The entire Bhujbal clan exercised its vote in Nashik except the candidate's mother Hirabai Bhujbal.
Biju Janata Dal (BJD) writes to Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha over alleged "booth capturing by BJP". The letter states "BJP goons conducted booth capturing in 12 booths of Bari assembly constituency under Jajpur parliamentary constituency while the polling was going on today." (ANI)
An average 42.03 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 3 pm in Maharashtra's 17 seats on Monday as polling for the fourth and last phase of Lok Sabha elections is underway.
The voting figures till 3 pm in other constituencies are as follows: Dhule- 40.63 per cent, Dindori- 46.13 per cent, Nashik- 41.72 per cent, Palghar- 46.77 per cent, Bhiwandi- 39.35 per cent, Thane- 38.52 per cent, Mumbai North-44.65 per cent, Mumbai North West- 40.53 per cent, Mumbai North East- 43.12 per cent, Mumbai North Central- 39.84 per cent, Mumbai South Central- 41.09 per cent, Mumbai South-38.76 per cent, Maval- 42.32 per cent, Shirur- 41.48 per cent and Shirdi- 45.48 per cent.
(PTI)
The voter turnout till 3 pm for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha Elections was recorded at 49.53 per cent. West Bengal recorded the highest polling percentage at 66 per cent while Jammu and Kashmir recorded the lowest 8 per cent.
Over 43 per cent of 2.57 crore electorate Monday cast their votes till 1 pm in 13 Lok Sabha seats of Rajasthan. Maximum voter percentage of 53.45 was registered in Barmer, followed by Jodhpur where 46.41 per cent voters exercised their franchise till 1 pm. (PTI)
Opposition Samajwadi Party Monday urged the Election Commission to remove Uttar Pradesh's police chief OP Singh from the post alleging he was "favouring" the ruling BJP and affecting elections.
The party also alleged that in at at least two polling booths the Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machine showed the voting for the BJP when the ballot was cast for the SP.
Party leader Dharmendra Yadav said the Director General of Police was "misusing" government machinery to help the BJP.
"We demanded from the EC to remove him immediately," Yadav told reporters here.
He was part of a SP delegation that met Chief Electoral Officer L Venkatenshwar Lu and submitted a memorandum demanding immediate removal of the DGP. It highlighted the issue of "faulty" EVMs.
"The police are terrorising minority voters. The force is being misused in favour of the BJP. We have apprised the CEO about it," SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.
(PTI)
In Pune, a woman goes to cast her vote with her two-month-old baby.
An estimated 35 per cent of the 95.06 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 1 PM during fourth and final phase of simultaneous polling on Monday in six Lok Sabha and 41 assembly constituencies of Odisha, a poll official said.
Polling is not being held in Patkura assembly seat, where voting will be held on May 19 following the death of the BJD candidate.
(PTI)
Trinamool Congress has written to the Election Commission over alleged "firing by Central Forces personnel inside a polling booth in Dubrajpur, Birbhum parliamentary constituency", ANI reports. The letter states, "Central forces have created a reign of terror in minds of voters and have also urged the voters to cast their vote for BJP."
Brisk voting was reported from Rupeenagar area of Bhosari in Pune Monday.
Sachin Tendulkar along with wife Anjali Tendulkar and children Sara and Arjun, both first-time voters, after casting their ballots at Pali Chimbai School in Bandra. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)
An estimated 32.48 per cent voters of the 87.74 electorate cast their ballots till 1 pm in Bihar, where polling for five Lok Sabha seats is underway on Monday, an election official said. Voting was initially hampered at three polling stations in Munger, two polling stations in Darbhanga and three polling stations in Begusarai due to technical glitches
44-year-old Deepak Nagrani from Mumbai suffers from mental and visual disabilities. His father Ramchand has got special permission from the government to physically help his son cast his vote. This is the third time Deepak has voted. (Express photo by Mohamed Thaver)
Amitabh Bachchan turned up to vote along with wife Jaya Bachchan, son Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. (Express photo by Amit Chakravarty)
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and his family cast their votes at NavJeevan Vidya Mandir School in Bandra East, Mumbai on Monday afternoon. (Express photo by Pradip Das)
An estimated 20.87 per cent of the 45.26 lakh electorate cast their votes till 11 am on Monday in three Lok Sabha constituencies of Jharkhand, in the first phase of elections in the state. Women voters were seen in large numbers at many booths in Lohardaga (ST), Palamu (SC) and Chatra constituencies, where voting began at 7 am, election officials said.
Several incidents of stone pelting took place Monday in Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir where polling is underway for election to the Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, police said. "Isolated incidents of stone pelting near polling stations have been reported from various parts of Kulgam district but the situation is under control due to timely action of security forces," a police official said. He said there were no reports of anyone getting hurt in the stone pelting incidents so far. PTI
Sporadic incidents of violence marked the first two hours of polling in West Bengal. There were reports of a clash between TMC and BJP workers outside a booth in Barabani in Asansol, following a tiff between sitting MP and BJP candidate in Asansol, Babul Supriyo and polling officials inside the station, an Election Commission source said. Supriyo's vehicle was also reportedly vandalised in the clash, he said. However, an EC official said by and large, polling has so far been peaceful.
A voter turnout of 18.39% was recorded in 17 parliamentary constituencies in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, till 11 am.
Over 29 per cent voting was recorded in the first four hours of polling in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Rajasthan which began at 7 am on Monday. The Barmar parliamentary constituency recorded the maximum voter turn out of 33.53 per cent, while the overall voting percentage at 11 am was 29.40 per cent, according to the office of the chief electoral officer. Banswara, a tribal dominated Lok Sabha seat in south Rajasthan, recorded 31.66 voter turn out till 11 am. Jodhpur, which is the keenly watched seat where the son of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Vaibhav Gehlot, is contesting against Union minister of state and sitting MP Gajendra Singh Shekhwat, recorded 30.53 per cent voting in the first four hours. Tonk-Sawaimadhopur recorded 26. 15 percent voter turn out, Ajmer 28.16 per cent, Pali 28.53 per cent, Jalore 30.51 per cent, Udaipur 27.71 per cent, Chittorgarh 30.47 per cent, Rajsamand 28.83 per cent, Bhilwara 28.81 per cent, Kota 29.26 per cent and Jhalawar-Baran 29.04 per cent till 11 am. PTI
Till 11 am a voter turnout of 17.07% was recorded in five parliamentary constituencies of Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai and Munger, in Bihar and 29.21% in Jharkhand.
BJP MP Babul Supriyo alleged that the Trinamool Congress is trying to influence voters and have stationed their people at booth numbers 171, 199, 223 and 224 in Jamuria constituency.
Rufta Bibi (42) from Karidhya village at Suri in Birbhum, about 330 km from Kolkata, will cast her vote without her husband for the first time ever since her marriage 17 years ago. Rufta’s husband, Dildar Sheikh, was one of the many people who were killed during last year’s panchayat poll violence in the state. Dildar is now survived by his three minor daughters and wife. “Will any party be able to bring my husband back? Can anyone do something to lessen the burden I have on my shoulders?” said Rufta. However, despite the anguish, she will cast vote on Monday. Read More
From celebrities to businessman, first-time voters to elderly, here's a look at some of those who turned up to vote in the fourth phase of the General Assembly elections. SEE PHOTOS
Polling was held for the first time in Naxal-affected Jagodih area in Palamu constituency of Jharkhand amid heavy security.
BJP MP candidate from Kendrapara, Jay Panda, who visited polling booth number 38 in Kendrapara Lok Sabha Constituency, said, "Today, we registered 14-15 complaints with poll authorities over disturbance and attempts of booth rigging at different polling booths. We want free and fair polls."
HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh after casting his vote at Activity HA Peddar Rd. In 2014 his name was not in the list. (Expess photo by Nirmal Harindran)
Women’s safety and empowerment remain the top issue on the mind of young voters, according to an extensive youth survey done by Yuvaa in partnership with InUth, the youth site of indianexpress.com. This was followed by communal politics, violence and corruption, as the top reasons that will get young voters to cast their vote. Between January and March, Yuvaa travelled across 25 Indian cities (in North, South, East, West, Central and North East zones), and interviewed over a 1000 youth in 65+ colleges (including IITs, NITs, AIIMS, IIMs, NIFTs, and more) from across economic divides to understand the first time voter, for a video series called YOUTH ADDA, in partnership with InUth. Read More
A 50-year-old woman poll staffer died after suffering a heart attack ahead of voting in Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat of Madhya Pradesh, an official said on Monday. Sunanda Kotekar, who was deployed at Lodhikheda polling booth in Saunsar area of Chhindwara, felt uneasy on Sunday night, Chief Electoral Officer V L Kantha Rao said. She died of the heart attack even before she could be provided any medical assistance, he added. The woman and other personnel of the polling team had reached the booth early on Sunday. PTI
Aamir Kham, Kiran Rao, Madhuri Dixit, Urmila Matondkar pose for the shutterbugs after casting their votes in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Former Rajasthan CM Vasundhara Raje tweeted out a picture of herself along with her son after casting her vote. Encouraging people to go out and exercise their suffrage rights, Raje said, "Come out in big numbers with your family and vote. I have done my duty, now it's your turn."
Madhuri Dixit, Shubha Khote were clicked after they cast their votes in Mumbai o Friday.
Till 9 am a voter turnout of 6.82% was recorded in Maharashtra (17 seats), 11.11% in Madhya Pradesh (6 seats) and 9% in Odisha (6) and 16.90% in West Bengal (8 seats).
NCP chief Sharad Pawar cast his vote at a booth in Tardeo Monday. Pawar is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections. Announcing his decision to not contest, Pawar had said two of his family are already in the fray and that he wanted to make way for a younger generation in electoral politics.
The polling in Maval and Shirur constituencies in Pune district witnessed a slow start as only 6.5 per cent voters turned up to vote in first two hours till 9 am in Shirur constituency while 6.9 per cent voted in Maval seat. District election officer Naval Kishore Ram said though the polling was slow, it was smoothly conducted. "Everything is in order. There are no complaints whatsoever," he said. In Maval, Parth Pawar, son of NCP leader Ajit Pawar, is contesting against sitting Sena MP Shrirang Barne while in Shirur three-time Sena MP Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil is taking on NCP's Amol Kolhe. While Barne voted in Thergaon, Kolhe voted in Narayangaon. Collectively, there are 44.70 lakh voters in both the constituencies.
Trinamool Congress workers entered into a clash with the security personnel outside polling booth number 199 in Asansol as they alleged that a BJP agent was present at the booth. BJP MP Babul Supriyo's car was also vandalised outside the polling station.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath cast his vote as the state goes to poll for the first time in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections. Six constituencies across Madhya Pradesh vote today.
Voting was delayed in Uttar Pradesh's Kannauj because of glitch in the electronic voting machine at polling booths 35 and 435.
There has been a report of violence in West Bengal as BJP MP candidate from Asansol Bul Supriyo's car was vandalised outside the polling booth.