Voting is underway for the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections. In this phase polling is being held in 58 Parliamentary Constituencies spread over six States and two Union Territories.
These include 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats in Haryana, 8 seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, all 7 seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, four in Jharkhand and one Parliamentary Constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.
Voting began at 7 in the morning and will conclude at 6 PM. Nearly 26 per cent voters had already cast their vote by 11 A.M.
A total of 889 candidates are in the fray in this phase. The prominent candidates whose fate will be locked in EVMs include, senior BJP leaders Dharmendra Pradhan, Maneka Gandhi, Manohar Lal Khattar and Manoj Tiwari and Congress leaders Deepender Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja, Raj Babbar and Kanhaiya Kumar.
Samajwadi Party leader Dharmendra Yadav and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti are also in the fray.
Over 11 crore voters are eligible to vote in this phase across 1.14 lakh polling stations.
Election Commission has made elaborate arrangements to ensure smooth and hassle free voting.
Poll body has specially reminded voters in urban centres like Delhi, Gurgaon, and Faridabad to exercise their right to vote and break the trend of urban apathy.
Simultaneously, polling is being held for 42 seats of Odisha Assembly in the third phase. In addition, Assembly by- elections for Karnal seat in Haryana and Gainsari constituency in Uttar Pradesh are also taking place.