Live Post of Lok Sabha Polls 2024 Phase 4 LIVE: 62.3% voter turnout registered till 5 pm

Ten states and union territories reported 62.3% voting turnout at 5 p.m. All 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana, all 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, five seats in Bihar, four seats in Jharkhand, eight seats in Madhya Pradesh, eleven seats in Maharashtra, four seats in Odisha, eight seats in West Bengal, and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir are getting their elections today.

In addition, the Srinagar Lok Sabha seat is holding voting. This is Kashmir’s first significant election following the repeal of Article 370 in August 2019. In the fourth phase, voting will take place concurrently for all 175 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh and 28 in Odisha.

At 1.92 lakh polling places, more than 19 lakh poll workers have been deployed.

A brawl between members of the ruling YSR Congress and the Telugu Desam Party interrupted voting at a booth in Andhra Pradesh on Monday. Rubber bullets were used by the police to disperse the throng at the Narasaravu Pet Municipal High School polling place in the Palnadu district.

According to sources, YSRCP supporters allegedly prevented TDP activists from entering the voting place, which resulted in violence.

Chadalavada Aravind Babu, the TDP’s candidate for MLA, was allegedly attacked during the altercation, and TDP supporters’ cars sustained damage. Each side held the other responsible for the violence.

In West Bengal, where voters in eight constituencies are casting ballots in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections today, numerous violent events have been recorded. Although poll workers assert that voting has proceeded peacefully, a total of 1,088 complaints have been made by various political parties regarding purported EVM malfunctions and operatives being prevented from accessing voting booths.

Conflicts between BJP and ruling Trinamool Congress workers occurred in a few places within the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha seat. Following several concerns, BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh encountered protests outside Kalna Gate as he was making his way to a polling station. ‘Go back’ placards were raised as Trinamool supporters obstructed his path and organized a demonstration. The motorcade of the BJP leader was also attacked with stones, causing damage to a few of the automobiles.

Narayan Chakraborty (55), a polling officer at Booth 93 of the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha Constituency in West Bengal, got a fresh lease of life on Monday, thanks to the prompt action by Border Security Force (BSF) personnel of the 115 Battalion, who were on duty at the premises.

“Around 9.05 a.m., while supervising the polling process, Chakraborty suffered a severe cardiac arrest. The BSF’s Quick Response Team (QRT) and Tactical Headquarters QRT, accompanied by a staff officer, converged at the location within minutes. The BSF troops administered Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to the polling officer till he regained consciousness. The BSF personnel also made use of the medicines available with them. Chakraborty was given Atorva 80 mg, Aspirin 75 mg and Clopidogrel 75 mg tablets and his condition stabilised,” said A K Arya, DIG and spokesperson, BSF, South Bengal Frontier.

Following this, the polling officer was evacuated to the CR Hospital in Bhatar, East Bardhaman, by BSF personnel with the help of a civilian. He received expert medical care there and his condition stabilised further.

Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav claimed on Monday that he has the backing of Dalits, who joined the party after it merged with Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in 2019. Yadav is running for the Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency today. He hinted that the BJP, on the other hand, hates the so-called lower castes.

“When I went to a temple, the BJP got it washed,” he said.

Akhilesh Yadav was alluding to the cleansing ritual performed for BJP workers at Kannauj’s Gauri Shankar Mahadev Mandir following their visit. The incident gave the SP further momentum in creating a rainbow support group of voters in the constituency, since a video of the purifying ceremony went viral on social media.

The fiery BJP candidate from Hyderabad, Kompella Madhavi Latha, is being investigated by the police after it was captured on camera that she was requesting Muslim women in burqas to expose their faces at a polling place so that she could compare them to the pictures on their voter ID cards.

The Representation of the People Act and the applicable parts of the Indian Penal Code have been cited in the registration of the complaint. In a post on X, the Hyderabad Collector’s office acknowledged that a case had been filed in Malakpet Police Station against the BJP candidate.

Trinamool Congress candidate from Bahrampur Yusuf Pathan cast his vote from Murshidabad.

BJP’s Khunti candidate Arjun Munda, the Union Tribal Affairs Minister, said he was confident that the people of the country would vote for his party and make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister once again. He voted along with his wife Meera Munda at a booth in Khelarisai in Kharsawan.

His rival Kalicharan Munda of the Congress also exercised his franchise and claimed that he would win by more than 50,000 votes this time. JMM Singhbhum’s candidate Joba Manjhi also exercised her franchise.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a six-kilometer-long roadshow in Varanasi on Monday evening, one day before filing his candidature for the Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.

According to sources in the BJP, before PM Modi files his nomination on May 14, he will also take a dip in the Ganga.

Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party President Altaf Bukhari said that elections in the single seat of Srinagar during the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections are happening peacefully.

“By the grace of God, voting is happening without any coercion. I think this is the first victory of democracy…We too stepped out to vote, there is no pressure on anyone. I appeal to everyone to cast the vote,” Bukhari said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he will be back from Tihar jail on June 5 if the INDIA bloc comes to power after the election results are announced.

Addressing his Aam Aadmi Party councillors, Kejriwal alleged that efforts were made to break and humiliate him during judicial custody in Tihar.

“There were two CCTV cameras inside my cell in Tihar and the feed was monitored by 13 officers. It was said that the CCTV feed was also provided to PMO. Modi ji was monitoring me… I do not know what grudge Modi has against me,” he claimed.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a rally in Bihar’s Saran said, “This election is to increase India’s stature in the world. This election is to increase the country’s credibility, prestige and status, and for which every Indian feels proud.”

Trinamool Congress supporters blocked the convoy of BJP candidate Dilip Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.

The BJP is making efforts for a better voter turnout in the fourth phase of polling for eight Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh underway on Monday compared to the previous three phases, state party president V D Sharma said.

Talking to reporters at the state BJP headquarters here, Sharma said he expects polling in the eight seats to go up to 75-80 per cent.

As per poll authorities, 64.76 per cent voter turnout was recorded in 21 out of the total 29 Lok Sabha constituencies in MP which went to polls on April 19, 26 and May 7.

BJP’s Hyderabad candidate Madhavi Latha stoked controversy after she asked burqa-clad women at a polling booth to lift their veils to check their identities.

Latha, after casting her vote in Azampur, started checking the identities of women waiting in line to exercise their right to franchise.

Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM will reportedly lodge a complaint with the Election Commission over Latha’s action.

Meanwhile, a case is registered in Malakpet Police Station against Latha under sections 171C, 186, 505(1)(c) of IPC and Section 132 of the Representation of the People Act.

Rajasthan’s former chief minister Ashok Gehlot has said that the INDI Alliance will form the next government as “the winds of change blowing in the country.”

“Congress going to win Lok Sabha seats in double digits in Rajasthan,” Gehlot told PTI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public meeting in Hajipur (reserved) constituency on Monday, a day after conducting a road show in Patna and providing sewa (service) at the Gurdwara Harmandir Sahib. He slammed the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal and Congress parties over “appeasement, corruption, and reservation” issues.

PM Modi will also hold public engagements in the Muzaffarpur and Saran seats later in the day.

Vote for NDA to help form strong govt at Centre, PM Modi said at a rally in Hajipur, Bihar.

RJD, Congress indulging in politics of appeasement, Modi said. RJD leader convicted in fodder scam says Muslims should be given reservation, he added.

Commissioner of Police (CP) Ravi Shankar Ayyanar said, “Elections are being held here in Visakhapatnam city, more than 5000 personnel are deployed here. EVMs are working everywhere and voting is going on peacefully in all seven constituencies.”

“We have made elaborate security arrangements, so I urge all voters to go and vote for the best person, best party,” he added

Three generations of the Abdullah family on Monday cast their vote in Jammu and Kashmir’s Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, with National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah appealing to people to turn out in large numbers to exercise their franchise.

NC president and former J-K chief minister Farooq Abdullah, his son Omar Abdullah and his two grandsons and first-time electors Zahir and Zamir cast their vote at the polling station at the Burn Hall School here.