As the seventh and the last phase of Lok Sabha elections began on Saturday, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to voters to exercise their votes in large numbers “to protect democracy and the constitution”.
“In this great festival of democracy, the country will vote in the last phase today. All of you are requested to exercise your right to vote in large numbers to protect democracy and the Constitution,” Kejriwal posted on X.
लोकतंत्र के इस महापर्व में देश आज आख़िरी चरण में मतदान करेगा।
आप सभी से निवेदन है भारी संख्या में लोकतंत्र और संविधान की रक्षा के लिए अपने मताधिकार का इस्तेमाल ज़रूर करें। खुद भी वोट डालने जाएँ और अपने आस-पड़ोस के लोगों को भी साथ लेकर जाएँ।
तानाशाही हारेगी, लोकतंत्र जीतेगा।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) June 1, 2024
“Go to vote yourself and take your neighbours along with you. Dictatorship will lose, and democracy will win,” he added.
Kejriwal has been on bail in a money laundering case linked to the Delhi government’s now-scrapped excise policy.
The CM was given 21 days of temporary bail by the Supreme Court on May 10 so that he could run for office during the Lok Sabha elections. On June 2, one day following the conclusion of the Lok Sabha election, the court had ordered him to turn himself in.
After receiving the bail, Kejriwal conducted a nationwide campaign in which he attacked the Union government, which is led by the BJP, accusing it of being autocratic and seeking to destroy the opposition by abusing central investigative agencies.
Voting in 57 parliamentary constituencies spread over eight states and the Union Territories, including Bihar, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, is taking place in the election’s final phase.
Of the 57 seats in the Lok Sabha, 41 are in the general category, with three allocated for Scheduled Castes.
PM Narendra Modi is among 906 candidates in the fray in the elections, during which 10.06 crore electors are eligible to cast their vote.
Of the seats at stake, the BJP had bagged 25 in 2019, while the Congress won eight, and the Trinamool Congress won nine. The Biju Janata Dal won four seats and the Janata Dal (United) won three; the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Apna Dal, and Akali Dal won two seats; and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Aam Aadmi Party each snagged a single seat.
Over the last six phases, voting has been completed in 486 Lok Sabha seats across 28 States and Union Territories.
Today, the voting is taking place in the remaining 42 Assembly constituencies of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly.
The counting of the votes polled is scheduled to take place on June 4 when the results will be known.