The World’s largest polling marathon which started on the 19th of April culminated with the conclusion of seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on Saturday evening.
In the past 43 days, people across 542 constituencies out of 543 voted to elect their representatives to the 18th Lok Sabha. In Surat, the BJP candidate was elected unopposed.
In the seventh and final phase, polling was held for 57 Parliamentary Constituencies spread over seven States and one Union Territory. These include 13 seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and one Parliamentary Constituency in Chandigarh.
Over 58 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 5 PM.
A total of 904 candidates were in the fray in this phase. Prominent among them were: Prime Minister and Senior BJP leader Narendra Modi, party leaders Anurag Thakur, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Kangana Ranaut, Congress leader Manish Tiwari and Vikramaditya Singh, RJD leader Misa Bharti, and Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee.
Simultaneously, polling also took place for remaining 42 seats of Odisha Assembly in the fourth phase. In addition, Assembly by-elections for six constituencies in Himachal Pradesh and one seat each in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were also held.
Now, the anticipation mounts for the momentous day of reckoning when the fate of political leaders will be determined. Preparations are in full swing for the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday.