Mumbai: Polling for 59 Lok Sabha seats in the sixth and penultimate phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections has begun with Union Ministers Radha Mohan Singh, Harsh Vardhan and Maneka Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia among several prominent faces in the fray.
Elections are being held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eights constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand.
Over 10.17 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 979 candidates.
The Election Commission has set up over 1.13 lakh polling stations for smooth conduct of the polls.
The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
Here are the live updates:
07: 10 pm: Total 61.14 pc voting till 7 pm
Lok Sabha Election 2019: Total 61.14% voting till 7 pm in #Phase6. West Bengal- 80.16, Delhi-56.11, Haryana- 62.91, Uttar Pradesh- 53.37, Bihar- 59.29, Jharkhand- 64.46, Madhya Pradesh- 60.40 pic.twitter.com/XQbDd1NWHL
— ANI (@ANI) May 12, 2019
06: 06 pm: Total 59.70 pc voting till 6 pm in Phase 6. Bihar-55.04 per cent, Haryana-62.12 per cent, Madhya Pradesh-60.12 per cent, Uttar Pradesh-50.82 per cent, West Bengal-80.13 per cent, Jharkhand-64.46 per cent, NCT of Delhi-55.44 per cent.
05: 56 pm: Digvijaya Singh was not able to cast his vote.
04:10 pm: Vice President Venkaiah Naidu and his wife Usha cast their votes at Nirman Bhawan polling booth.
4:00 pm: 50.77 pc voter turnout till 4 pm.
03:16 pm: BJP leader MA Naqvi: Our candidate Bharati Ghosh's car was stopped, have demanded action against the officers involved.
03:10 pm: Estimated overall voter turnout comes to 46.52 per cent till 3 pm.
West Bengal- 63.09 per cent, Delhi-36.73 per cent, Haryana- 47.57 per cent, Uttar Pradesh- 40.96 per cent, Bihar- 43.86 per cent, Jharkhand- 54.09 per cent, Madhya Pradesh- 48.53 per cent.
03:05 pm: Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa and his family after casting their vote at a polling booth in Nirman Bhawan.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
02:40 pm: Former President of India, Pranab Mukherjee casts his vote at a polling booth in NP Primary School, K Kamraj Lane.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
02:25 pm: AAP South Delhi candidate Raghav Chadha accused BJP workers for voting multiple times. He said, "The BJP personnel are moving around in a polling booth in Sangam Vihar in BJP scarves, a person voted four times. We identified 8-10 such people and caught one red handed. Since Ramesh Bidhuri (BJP candidate) is losing badly, they are indulging in such tactics.
01:44 pm: NITI Aayog CEO, Amitabh Kant and Chief Election Commissioner, Sunil Arora after casting their votes.
01:25 pm: Australia's Envoy to India, Harinder Sidhu said, "It's been a really inspiring experience. How can you get so many people to voting? Answer is well-organised EC & its officials. It's a good system & organised."
"I'm really impressed with EVMs, we don't have those in Australia. I think even with paper ballots which we have in Australia, it's always a case where there's a risk to integrity in any system. VVPAT is actually a good development," she added.
01:10 pm: West Bengal BJP Chief Dilip Ghosh at a booth in Rampura (West Medinipur) said, "Party workers were being threatened since yesterday. TMC goons attacked us, we were stopped from going inside the booth. These people are stopping people from voting."
01:00 pm: The overall voter turnout in Phase 6 of Lok Sabha elections 2019 stood at 29.44 per cent until 1 pm.
21 per cent votes were polled in Bihar, 30.09 per cent in Haryana, 32.21 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 28.10 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 40.98 per cent in West Bengal, 41.21 per cent in Jharkhand, and 20.08 per cent in Delhi, as per data on Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app.
12:25 pm: Total estimated voter turnout comes to 25.13 per cent till noon in Phase 6.
West Bengal- 38.26 per cent, Delhi-19.55 per cent, Haryana- 23.26 per cent, Uttar Pradesh- 21.75 per cent, Bihar- 20.70 per cent, Jharkhand- 31.27 per cent, Madhya Pradesh- 28.25 per cent.
11:55 am: Estimated voter turnout until 11 am:
20.70 per cent in Bihar, 22.63 per cent in Haryana, 27.59 per cent in Madhya Pradesh, 21.75 per cent in Uttar Pradesh, 38.08 per cent in West Bengal, 31.27 per cent in Jharkhand, and 18.76 per cent in Delhi, as per data on Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app.
11:45 am: Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Robert Vadra leave after casting their vote at a polling booth in Sardar Patel Vidyalaya at Lodhi Estate.
Congress General Secretary for UP (East), Priyanka Gandhi Vadra after casting her vote in Delhi said, "It's a really important election because we are fighting to save democracy, for our country, and keeping that in mind I cast my vote."
11:35 am: Clashes took between BJP and TMC workers at polling booth number 254 in Bankura after BJP alleged rigging by TMC workers.
11:25 am: Estimated voter turnout recorded until 9:45 am was 10.69 per cent.
11:20 am: Legendary Cricketer Kapil Dev along with wife Romi and daughter Amiya arrives to cast his vote at a polling booth in DPS Mathura Road.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
11:15 am: UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi arrives to cast her vote at a polling booth in Nirman Bhavan.
11.07 am: Congress candidate from Sonipat, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress candidate from Rohtak, Deepender Singh Hooda cast their vote at a polling booth in Rohtak, Haryana.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
11:00 am: Delhi's oldest voter, 111-year old Bachan Singh after casting his vote at a polling booth in Sant Garh.
10:40 am: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after casting her vote at a polling booth in NP Senior Secondary School in Aurangzeb Lane.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
10:35 am: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal casts his vote at a polling booth in Civil Lines.
10:25 am: Vehicle in BJP candidate from Ghatal, Bharti Ghosh's convoy vandalised. BJP has alleged that TMC workers are behind the attack.
Read: BJP's Bharti Ghosh breaks down after being manhandled; blames TMC
10:07 am: Congress President Rahul Gandhi arrives to cast his vote at a polling booth in NP Senior Secondary School in Aurangzeb Lane.
After casting his vote, Rahul Gandhi said: "The election was fought on key issues including demonetisation, farmers' problems, Gabbar Singh Tax and corruption in Rafale. Narendra Modi used hatred in the campaign and we used love and I am confident love will win." “Our love will conquer BJP’s hate,” he concluded.
Read: PM used hate to garner votes, love will win: Rahul after casting vote
10:05 am: AAP Candidate from East Delhi, Atishi after casting her vote at a polling booth in Kamla Nehru Govt Sarvodaya Vidyalaya in Jangpura. She is up against BJP's Gautam Gambhir and Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely.
10:00 am: Delhi BJP Chief and party's candidate from North-East Delhi Manoj Tiwari casts his vote at polling booth number 60 in Yamuna Vihar. The actor-turned-politician is up against Congress's Sheila Dikshit and AAP's Dilip Pandey.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
09:25 am: Voting percentage recorded until 9 am:
Bihar- 9.03 per cent, Haryana- 8.26 per cent, Madhya Pradesh- 11.28 per cent, Uttar Pradesh- 8.06 per cent, West Bengal- 16.62 per cent, Jharkhand- 15.36, Delhi- 7.24 per cent, as per data on Election Commission’s Voter Turnout app.
09:15 am: Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar casts his vote at a polling booth in Karnal.
09:05 am: President Ram Nath Kovind casts his vote at a polling booth in Rashtrapati Bhawan.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
09:00 am: Minor argument takes place between Union Minister and BJP's candidate from Sultanpur Maneka Gandhi and Mahagathbandhan candidate Sonu Singh after Gandhi alleged that Singh's supporters were threatening voters.
08:45 am: Former Delhi CM and Congress's candidate from North-East Delhi, Sheila Dikshit after casting her vote at a polling booth in Nizamuddin (East).
08:25 am: East Delhi Congress candidate Arvinder Singh Lovely cast his vote along with his family members at Azad Nagar in his constituency.
08:15 am: Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharth Nath Singh with his wife after casting vote at a polling booth in Prayagraj.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
08:10 am: Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia with wife Seema casts their vote at Pandav Nagar.
08:05 am: A first time voter, Rita Kumari from Dhanbad casts her vote.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
07:55 am: There were early reports of VVPAT malfunctioning in one booth in Bengal's Jaypur area of Purulia constituency.
07:45 am: BJP candidate from East Delhi Gautam Gambhir casts his vote at a polling booth in Old Rajinder Nagar. The former cricketer is up against AAP's Atishi and Congress's Arvinder Singh Lovely.
07:35 am: Team India Captain Virat Kohli arrived at a polling booth in Pinecrest School in Gurugram to cast his vote.
07:20 am: BJP Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur casts her vote.
(Photo: Twitter | ANI)
07:00 am: Voting begins for 59 parliamentary constituencies in the 6th phase of polling across Bihar, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Delhi.
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