India’s general election is heading towards its penultimate phase, with voters from eight states and federally-governed union territories poised to decide the fate of 889 candidates on May 25.
Among some prominent candidates, Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is challenging sitting MP Manoj Tiwari, a regional Bhojpuri language cinema actor and singer, in the North East Delhi constituency, while Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan is seeking to enter the Lok Sabha from Sambalpur in the eastern state of Odisha.
The sixth phase will see all seven seats in the Indian capital region go to polls. The first five phases saw voter turnouts of 66.1, 66.7, 61, 67.3, and 60.5 percent, respectively.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the main opposition Congress party, has promised to address economic distress and lack of employment generation as it aims to challenge the electoral dominance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Registered voters in six states and two union territories will cast their ballots for 58 seats:
– Haryana: All 10 constituencies
– Jharkhand: Four of the 14 constituencies
– Odisha: Six of the 21 constituencies
– Uttar Pradesh: 14 of the 80 constituencies
– Bihar: Eight of the 40 constituencies
– West Bengal: Eight of the 42 constituencies
– Delhi: All seven National Capital Territory (NCT) constituencies
– Jammu and Kashmir: Anantnag-Rajouri, one of the union territory’s five constituencies where polling was deferred from Phase 3 to Phase 6 due to weather conditions
Some key constituencies include New Delhi, North East Delhi, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Karnal, Anantnag-Rajouri, Azamgarh, Sultanpur, and Tamluk.
Voting will begin at 7am and end at 6pm. The seventh and final phase of the election will be held on June 1, with vote counting on June 4.
The results of the last Lok Sabha elections showed that the BJP and NDA-allied parties won 42 out of the 58 seats to be decided on May 25.