Phase 4 of the Lok Sabha elections began at 7 a.m. and covers 96 constituencies in 10 states and the U.T. The polls will close at six o’clock. For the 96 parliamentary constituencies, 4,264 nominations were filed, according to the Election Commission of India, leaving 1,717 final candidates in the run. With 1,488, Telangana received the most number of nominations. Andhra Pradesh, with 1,103 nominations spread over 25 constituencies, stood at second.
Notably, in Madhya Pradesh’s Indore constituency, the Congress party is urging voters to choose the NOTA (None of the Above) option, following the withdrawal of their candidate, Akshay Kanti Bam, who subsequently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Andhra Pradesh will witness elections for all 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 Assembly seats, while Odisha will see polling for 28 Assembly seats and four Lok Sabha seats out of 146 and 21, respectively. With polling already concluded in 283 seats until Phase-III, the Election Commission assures normal to below-normal temperatures for Monday’s polling, with no heatwave forecasted. Additionally, polling hours have been extended in certain Telangana polling stations to encourage higher voter turnout.
The voting will encompass all 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, along with constituencies in Bihar (5), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (8), Maharashtra (11), Uttar Pradesh (13), West Bengal (8), and Srinagar (one) in Jammu and Kashmir. According to SBI Research, voter turnout during Phase-IV of the 2019 elections stood at 65.5 percent.
In the previous elections, the BJP secured victory in 42 out of the 96 seats slated for polling on Monday, with allies JD(U) and LJP clinching one seat each. Among other parties, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and Shiv Sena bagged three and two seats, respectively. The Opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress, NCP, and NC, won a total of eight seats, while regional parties not aligned with either bloc secured 35 seats. YSR Congress Party emerged as the frontrunner with 22 seats, followed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi with 9, and Biju Janata Dal and AIMIM with two seats each.
