On Monday, 49 seats across 8 states and Union Territories cast their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. By the end of this phase, polling for a total of 428 seats will be complete, leaving 115 seats for the final two phases. This phase also marks the conclusion of polling in Maharashtra, with its remaining 13 seats, including all six in Mumbai, now having voted.
In terms of vote share, the parties that constitute NDA received 42.85% of the votes compared to the 28.83% vote share of the INDIA bloc parties (excluding the votes of the Shiv Sena and NCP, both of which were united at the time). In 2019, the parties that now make up the Opposition INDIA bloc and the ruling NDA secured six and 34 out of these 49 seats, respectively. The BJP alone claimed 32 of these seats, while the Congress managed only one, retaining its traditional Rae Bareli seat in Uttar Pradesh. The remaining nine seats went to regional parties, with the undivided Shiv Sena winning seven and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) winning two.
695 candidates are in the fray. The BSP has fielded the most candidates at 46, followed by the BJP (40), and the Congress (18). With the final 13 seats in Maharashtra voting, the state has the most candidates in this phase at 264, followed by 144 in 14 Uttar Pradesh seats and 88 in seven West Bengal constituencies.
