Campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha elections concluded on Thursday evening. This marks the end of the extensive political activities and campaigning that have been ongoing for the past two months. The final phase of voting is set for June 1, covering a total of 57 seats across the Union Territory of Chandigarh and seven states. In this phase, a total of 904 candidates are in the fray. The results will be declared on June 4.
In Bihar, voting will take place for 8 seats: Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Pataliputra, Ara, Buxar, Sasaram, Karakat, and Jehanabad, with 134 candidates contesting. Chandigarh will see voting for its single seat with 19 candidates. Himachal Pradesh has 4 seats up for grabs—Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur, and Shimla—with 37 candidates. In Jharkhand, 52 candidates are contesting for 3 seats: Rajmahal, Dumka, and Godda.
Odisha will have voting for 6 seats: Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, and Jagatsinghpur, with 66 candidates. Punjab will see a contest for 13 seats: Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Khadoor Sahib, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib, Faridkot, Firozpur, Bathinda, Sangrur, and Patiala, with 328 candidates. Uttar Pradesh will have voting for 13 seats: Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon, Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, and Robertsganj, with 144 candidates. West Bengal’s 9 seats—Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jaynagar, Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Kolkata South, and Kolkata North—will see 124 candidates in the fray.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is contesting from Varanasi for the third time, with Congress fielding Ajay Rai against him. In Gorakhpur, actor Ravi Kishan is competing against Samajwadi Party’s Kajal Nishad. Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi seat features film actress Kangana Ranaut against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, the son of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh. Central Minister Anurag Thakur is contesting from Hamirpur, while Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee is running from Diamond Harbour in West Bengal. Former Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is contesting from Jalandhar, and Harsimrat Kaur Badal from Bathinda.