New Delhi: The filing of nominations for the fifth and last phase of the Lok Sabha elections came to an end on Friday. Scrutiny will be held on Saturday and polling will be held for 86 seats on May 13. In this phase, polling will be held for two seats in Jammu and Kashmir, nine seats in Punjab, four seats in Himachal Pradesh, eleven in West Bengal, five in Uttarakhand, 39 in Tamilnadu, 14 in UP and one each in Puducherry and Chandigarh. Major candidates who are in the fray are P Chidambaram from Tamil Nadu, Varun Gandhi from Pilibhit, his mother Maneka Gandhi from Aonla, Cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin from Moradabad and Jayaprada from Rampur.

      Polling was held for the second phase on April 23. The Election Commission declared that the average turn out in the second phase held in 12 States for 141 seats stood at 55 per cent of the total electorate of 19.5 crores (195 millions). A million polling staff was deployed ensured a successful conduct of polls across 12 states-Bihar, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Goa, and Tripura. Releasing the tentative figures about the total voter turnout, the Election Commission stated Bihar witnessed 44 per cent voting, Jharkhand (47 %), Jammu and Kashmir (46%), Maharashtra (56%), Andhra Pradesh (68%), Uttar Pradesh (44%), Assam (62%), Madhya Pradesh (47%), Orissa (55-60%), Karnataka (55%) and Goa (55%). Polling remained largely peaceful in 223,000 polling stations except a few Naxal incidents reported from Jharkhand. A total of 2,041 candidates, including 121 women candidates, contested for the 141 seats today. The break-up of Lok Sabha seats that underwent to the polls on Thursday is as follows: Uttar Pradesh (17), MP (13), Maharashtra (25), Goa (2), Karnataka (17), Bihar (13), Jharkhand (8), Orissa (11), Andhra Pradesh (20), Assam (11), Tripura (2) and Jammu and Kashmir (1).
- Apr 24, 2009