Several celebrities in Mumbai headed to polling stations on Monday to cast their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Among them was actor Suniel Shetty, who arrived at his designated polling booth in the morning to exercise his franchise. Suniel appeared stylish and happy as he fulfilled his civic duty.
The fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections is a crucial part of the seven-phase electoral process, with extensive arrangements in place to ensure a smooth and secure voting experience. Elections are underway in 6 Lok Sabha seats of Mumbai, including Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South, and Mumbai South Central. Other constituencies in Maharashtra participating in this phase are Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi, and Thane. Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being conducted in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, with the counting and results scheduled for June 4. Voting began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote. Over 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5409 third-gender electors, will decide the fate of 695 candidates in the fifth phase of voting.
Key contests are taking place in various constituencies, with leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Rohini Acharya vying for electoral success. Eight states/UTs participating in phase 5 are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
To ensure a peaceful atmosphere for the electors, a total of 2,000 flying squads, 2105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams, and 502 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock across the 94,732 polling stations.