- Thursday, April 10, 2025
Nine states and one Union Territory of the country, Jammu and Kashmir, will vote in this phase featuring 96 constituencies.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA on Monday (13) was set to go to the fourth phase of its marathon national elections to elect 96 members of the Lok Sabha or popularly elected Lower House of the parliament.
Polling will take place in nine states and one Union Territory (UT) in this phase. The states are Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in the south; Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha in the east; Uttar Pradesh in the north; the central state of Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra in the west and West Bengal in the east. Jammu and Kashmir is the only UT going to poll in this phase.
More than 1,700 candidates are in fray in this phase. Polling will begin at local time 7 am and continue till 6 pm. However, people waiting in the queue for their chance to cast ballots at the time of closing will be allowed to vote, even if that means extending the hours.
This year’s election is witnessing a contest for power between prime minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party and its National Democratic Alliance and the opposition bloc of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance which comprises more than two dozen parties that are opposed to the Hindu nationalist ruling party.
Read: Modi’s BJP skips national elections in Kashmir; opposition mock
Like in some of the previous phases, the fourth phase of the election also features a glamour factor, particularly in the east where actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election in the constituency of Asansol in West Bengal. To the south, actress Maadhavi Latha is challenging sitting and four-time MP Asaduddin Owaisi from Hyderabad in the state of Telangana.
The first three phases of the election saw turnout of 66.14 per cent (April 19), 66.71 per cent (April 26) and 60.19 per cent (May 7), respectively.
Read: A day after release from jail, Kejriwal asks ‘Will Modi retire at 75?’
This year, a total of 969 million voters are registered to vote in 543 parliamentary constituencies across 36 states and UTs of India.
In Indore constituency in Madhya Pradesh, which is a stronghold of the BJP, the Indian National Congress urged voters to opt for NOTA (none of the above) after its candidate withdrew from the fray at the last moment, after the last date for filing nominations had passed. The candidate reportedly joined the BJP. Thirteen other candidates are in the fray.
Andhra Pradesh will also go to the regional polls on Monday when members from 175 state constituencies will be announced. State elections will also kick off in the state of Odisha the same day.
The first three phases have decided the fate of 284 MPs.
Voting has so far concluded for all seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura. Polling was also done in the UTs of the Andaman and Nicobar islands; Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman, Diu, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.
The fifth phase will take place on May 20; the sixth on May 25; followed by the seventh and final on June 1.
The results will be declared on June 4.
