LIVE | Phase 3 of Lok Sabha polls records 61.78% voter turnout

#WATCH | Gujarat: Rajya Sabha MP and Director of Reliance Industries Limited's Corporate Affairs department, Parimal Nathwani cast his vote at a polling booth in Jamnagar. pic.twitter.com/XQFvQcYleo

— ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

54.09% polling till 3 pm in 9 LS seats of Madhya Pradesh

A voter turnout of 54.09 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in nine Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh, where polling is underway in the third phase of the general elections on Tuesday, an election official said.

Of the nine seats, Betul recorded 59.63 per cent voting, Bhind 44.18 per cent, Bhopal 50.16 per cent, Guna 60.16 per cent, Gwalior 49.6 per cent, Morena 48.23 per cent, Rajgarh 63.69 per cent, Sagar 53.08 per cent and Vidisha 59.87 per cent, the official said.

Former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Digvijaya Singh and state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president V D Sharma were among the early voters.

Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who are contesting the polls from Rajgarh and Guna, respectively, will not be able to vote for themselves as the former is a registered voter of Bhopal, and the latter is registered to vote from Gwalior, party sources said.

Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the BJP candidate from Vidisha seat, exercised franchise with his wife, Sadhna Singh, and two sons at a polling booth in his native village, Jait, in Sehore district.

Polling began at 7 am and will conclude at 6 pm across 20,456 polling stations, including 1,043 managed by women personnel and 75 by Divyang employees, an election official said.

To ensure smooth polling, the administration made local candidates sit in the police control room in Morena in the Gwalior-Chambal region, which is considered a sensitive area.

The police made BJP candidate Shivmangal Singh Tomar, BSP's Ramesh Chandra Garg and Congress candidate Satyapal Sikarwar sit in the control room, Superintendent of Police Shailendra Singh Chouhan said.

The candidates came to the police control room with their consent and sat together, as it has been a practice here, he said.

A total of 1.77 crore voters will decide the fate of 127 candidates who are contesting from Morena, Bhind (SC-reserved), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal, Rajgarh and Betul (ST-reserved) seats spread across 19 districts of the state.

Polling in Betul (ST) constituency was initially scheduled to be held in the second phase on April 26 but was deferred due to the death of a candidate.

In all, 127 candidates, including nine women, are in the fray in the third phase of the elections.

Bhopal has the highest number of 22 candidates, while Bhind has the lowest at 7.

Voters include 92.68 lakh men, 84.83 lakh women, and 491 members of the third gender, while 1.66 lakh voters are 'divyangjan' (people with disabilities), 88,106 are above the age of 85, and 1,804 are 100 plus years old, the poll official said.

As many as 5.25 lakh voters are in the age group of 18-19 years.

Of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, polling for 12 seats took place in the first two phases on April 19 and 26. The remaining eight seats will go to polls in the fourth phase on May 13. 

Bengal records 63.11% turnout till 3pm

A voter turnout of 63.11 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in four Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal in the third phase of the general elections on Tuesday, a poll official said.

According to the official, Murshidabad registered the highest voter turnout with 65.40 per cent followed by Maldaha Dakshin (62.90), Jangipur (62.57), and Maldaha Uttar (61.50).

Bhagawangola assembly seat in Murshidabad district, where a bypoll is underway, recorded a turnout of 61.18 per cent till 3pm, the official said.

Altogether 73,37,651 voters, including 36,12,395 women and 154 belonging to the third gender, are eligible to exercise their franchise.

A total of 57 candidates are in the fray in the four constituencies where voting started at 7am and will continue till 6pm.

To ensure free and fair polling, the Election Commission has deployed 334 companies of central forces along with 13,600 state police personnel. 

54.20% voter turnout till 3 pm in 14 LS segments in Karnataka

An estimated 54.20 per cent voter turnout was reported till 3 pm on Tuesday, for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, in 14 constituencies.

Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.

Out of the 14 segments, the highest turnout of 59.65 per cent was recorded in Chikkodi, followed by Haveri 58.45 per cent, and the lowest 47.67 per cent in Gulbarga.

A total of 227 candidates -- 206 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the second phase covering the northern districts of the state, where more than 2.59 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 28,269 polling stations.

It's a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP in these segments. The JD(S) is not contesting in these seats and is supporting its NDA alliance partner -- the BJP.

The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The first phase of polling in the other 14 seats in most of the southern and coastal districts was held on April 26.

The segments where elections are being held today are Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal, Bellary, Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davangere and Shimoga.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had swept all these 14 seats, defeating the Congress and JD(S), which were together in a coalition government in the state.

"I have full faith in PM Narendra Modi's leadership which has taken the country to the global platform and the people of the country believe in PM Modi. Even the Election Commission wanted voter turnout to increase and we are working for that," says Union Minister and BJP candidate from Guna, Jyotiraditya Scindia. 

Voters will decide whether one who makes Pakistan happy should win in LS polls: BJP

Voters will decide whether a leader who makes Pakistan happy should emerge victorious in the ongoing Lok Sabha election or the one who makes India strong, the ruling BJP said on Tuesday.

The remarks of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) national general secretary Vinod Tawde came on a day when polling was underway in 93 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 11 states and Union territories in the third phase of the parliamentary election.

"In view of the statements that are coming from Farooq Abdulla, Lalu Prasad and others, the people of the country would naturally think while casting their votes that whether a leader who makes Pakistan happy should win or the one who makes India strong," Tawde told a press conference at the party headquarters here.

Earlier in the day, Prasad, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president, said he is in favour of extending reservation benefits to Muslims and alleged that the BJP wants to do away with reservation by scrapping the Constitution.

"The BJP is against the provision of reservation in the Constitution. Hence, it wants to do away with both," Prasad told reporters in Patna.

On the BJP's charge that if voted to power, the Congress, RJD and their allies would "steal" the quota in jobs and education for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and give it to Muslims, Prasad quipped, "But should Muslims not get the benefit of reservation?" National Conference president Abdullah has said dialogue is the only way to resolve issues between India and Pakistan as any confrontation will have serious consequences for the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Reacting to a recent statement of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on taking back Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister on Sunday said no one is going to stop him.

"Let the defence minister do it. Who is going to stop him? In any case, they will not ask us. But let them remember this that they (Pakistan) are not wearing bangles, they also have an atom bomb. The unfortunate part is that the atom bomb will fall on us," he said.

In an exclusive interview with PTI, Singh said India will never give up its claim on PoK but it will not have to capture it with force because the people of the region, on their own, would want to be part of the country after seeing the development in Kashmir.

Abdullah also questioned the Centre's policy of holding talks with China but not with Pakistan. 

Chhattisgarh DGP Ashok Juneja with his wife Shashi Juneja cast their vote in Lok Sabha elections, in Raipur's Anand Nagar today#LokSabhaElections2024 pic.twitter.com/GoGivkCKNh

— ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024

#WATCH | After casting his vote, Assam CM & BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma says, "Today is the last day of the Assam (Lok Sabha) elections. We have completed it peacefully. We recorded almost 80% voter turnout in the first two phases. I thank the whole of Assam for peaceful… pic.twitter.com/HyM9lw8TMj

— ANI (@ANI) May 7, 2024