National Desk, 20th May: During the ongoing fifth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections across 49 constituencies, an overall voter turnout of 36.73% was recorded by 1 PM.
Ladakh reported the highest turnout at 52.02%, followed by Bengal at 48.41% and Jharkhand at 41.89%. Conversely, Maharashtra registered the lowest turnout so far at 27.78%.
This phase encompasses polling across six states and two Union Territories.
Of particular focus are Congress strongholds Amethi and Raebareli, where high-profile contests feature Rahul Gandhi against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli and Smriti Irani against Congress loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma.
Crucially, this election round will decide the electoral fate of several leaders, including former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah. A total of 695 candidates, including 82 women, are contesting for the 49 seats in this phase.
The eligible voter base for this phase exceeds 8.95 crore people, with over 4.26 crore females and 5,409 third-gender electors. The election process is facilitated by the deployment of 9.47 lakh polling officials across 94,732 polling stations nationwide.
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