Lok Sabha elections: 62.56 per cent voting in fifth phase; violence in Bengal, EVM glitches reported in UP

News Gateway / Web Desk /

Amid reports of violence and EVM malfunctioning, the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections saw a voter turnout of 62.56% on Monday. 51 constituencies across seven states went to polls that have sealed the fate of political heavyweights including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, union minister Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani.Advertising

Fourteen seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand went to polls, in addition to Ladakh and Anantnag constituencies in Jammu and Kashmir. This is the first election in Ladakh division following its split from the Kashmir division earlier this year.

The stakes are high for the ruling BJP and its allies as it had swept 40 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (seven). This is an important phase for BJP in Uttar Pradesh since it had won 12 of the 14 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress won only Rae Bareli and Amethi — the only two constituencies where the party succeeded out of the 80 seats in the state.