Lok Sabha Election 2024 highlights: AAP's Somnath Bharti says will go bald if Modi becomes PM again

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: After casting his vote, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party president and Uttar Pradesh minister Om Prakash Rajbhar says, “I want to appeal to the people to come out of their houses and cast their vote for a better future of people.”

He cast his vote in Ballia today during the final voting phase of thegeneral elections.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: In Punjab, former diplomat and BJP candidate from the Amritsar constituency, Taranjit Singh Sandhu, cast his vote at a local polling booth.

He is competing against Congress MP and candidate Gurjeet Singh Aujla, AAP's Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, and SAD's Anil Joshi.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: Sikkim Governor Laxman Acharya, along with his wife, cast a vote at the Ramnagar polling booth in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the fray as a BJP candidate from Varanasi during this phase.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha showed his inked finger to the media after casting his vote at a polling station in Lakhnaur, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar under the Anandpur Sahib constituency in Punjab, during the seventh and final phase of the general elections.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: Entering its final phase, the Lok Sabha elections will feature a notable contest at the crucial Varanasi seat, where 1,997,577 voters will determine the fate of seven candidates, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Voting has commenced.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: BJP National President JP Nadda and his wife Mallika Nadda cast their votes at a polling booth in Himachal Pradesh's Bilaspur.

After voting, Nadda said, “I was the first voter here (in his booth). I appeal to all voters to vote in large numbers for a capable and self-reliant India. I urge voters to vote and contribute towards making India a capable, self-reliant and developed India...I consider this a festival of democracy.”

Lok Sabha Election Phase 7 LIVE Updates: Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi cast his vote in Gorakhpur's Gorakhnath, where BJP's Ravi Kishan, SP's Kajal Nishad, and BSP's Javed Ashraf are contesting.

A total of 13 parliamentary seats out of 80 are under-voting during the seventh and final phase of the general elections today.

Voting will continue until 6 pm

“Today is the final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. As 57 seats across 8 states and UTs go to the polls, calling upon the voters to turnout in large numbers and vote. I hope young and women voters exercise their franchise in record numbers. Together, let’s make our democracy more vibrant and participative,” tweets PM Modi

Voting begins across 57 constituencies

BJP national president JP Nadda along with his wife Mallika Nadda offer prayers at a temple near his residence, in Bilaspur, ahead of casting their votes in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK)has written to the Election Commission of India reiterating the postal ballot vote counting procedure and urged the EC to ensure that the procedure in the EC rulebook is followed.

DMK's complaint on Friday comes after the Comissioner of Corporation of Chennai asked to count the postal ballots at the end. DMK alleged that this will cause "confusion" for the counting agents.

As per the Conduct of Election Rules 1961, the procedure that is followed for the counting of postal ballots is that the postal ballots alone should be counted first. This includes both Electronically Transmitted Postal Ballot System(ETPBS) and ordinary postal ballot votes. Only after 30 minutes of the counting should the EVM votes be counted. Then, the final counting of EVMs should not take place until the postal ballot votes result is declared.

DMK has told the EC that while it has "no doubt" about the above procedures and that the ECI will follow these rules, the the procedure announced by Corporation of Chennai is "not correct" and "causes considerable confusion in the minds of counting agents."

With the world's largest democracy's elections set to conclude on June 4, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has readied itself to extend a warm welcome to the Members of the Eighteenth Lok Sabha. A comprehensive array of arrangements has been put in place to facilitate a seamless induction process for the newly elected MPs immediately following the announcement of election results.

Secretary-General of Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh on Friday said,"We are fully prepared to welcome the Members of the 18th Lok Sabha and ensure a seamless registration process. Our goal is to minimize paperwork and streamline procedures to save valuable time for our Hon’ble MPs."

The Secretariat has been trained to closely monitor the results on June 4 and add the names of newly elected MPs to the Lok Sabha system. The secretariat said that it would also be able to monitor whether the winning MPs are a first timer or a re-elected MP and the information would be shared with Liaison Officers (Los) through software application to make further data entry of their tour programs.

It further said that LOs from the same region/language as that of the MP will be deployed to facilitate members and ensure faster communication.

13 Lok Sabha seats, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Varanasi, will go to polls in the last and seventh phase of the general elections on Saturday, June 1. Polling in the state, which sends 80 members to the Lower House of Parliament, was held in all seven phases of the election.

Voting will begin from 7 am and go on till 6 pm. Campaigning for the 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh ended on Thursday evening.

Apart from Varanasi, the other parliamentary seats where polling will take place are: Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Robertsganj (SC)

Bharatiya Janata Party president JP Nadda said the Congress party’s decision to not participate in exit polls is “an unequivocal confirmation that the Congress has conceded the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.”

In a post on X, Nadda said, “Congress’s decision to not participate in Exit Polls, on the eve of Phase 7 polling, is an unequivocal confirmation that the Congress has conceded the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It is not surprising, since the Congress usually opts out when it doesn’t expect results to go in its favour, but has no compunction showing up, if it thinks it has even an outside chance. Their hypocrisy is not lost on anyone. Let no one in Phase 7 waste their vote on them.”

Hours before the Nadda’s post, Congress’ media cell head Pawan Khera had announced that the principal Opposition party would not participate in exit poll discussions. The exit polls will come out after the polling for the seventh phase ends at 6 PM on Saturday.

“Voters have cast their votes and their verdict has been secured. The results will be out on 4th June. Prior to that, we do not see any reason to indulge in speculation and slugfest for TRP. The Indian National Congress will not participate in the debates on #ExitPolls. The purpose of any debate should be to inform the people. We will happily partake in debates from 4th June onwards,” Khera said.

On the seventh phase of #LokSabhaElections2024, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief and Hajipur Lok Sabha candidate Chirag Paswan says, "We are confident that like the last 6 phases, voting will be in favour of NDA in the seventh phase as well. There is no doubt that we will win all 40 seats in Bihar and PM Modi will take oath as Prime Minister for the third time..."

Google Doodle on Saturday commemorated the continuation of India's democratic franchise's exercise with a symbolic gesture of an index finger marked with ink, marking the final phase of voting of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.

In its doodle, Google replaced its iconic logo with an image depicting an uplifted index finger marked with ink - a symbol synonymous with the democratic process of the Indian elections.

By clicking on the Doodle, users are directed to the search results related to the latest updates on the 18th general elections in India. Read more

BJP MP and candidate from Godda Lok Sabha seat, Nishikant Dubey offers prayers at Baba Baidyanath Dham.

Congress has fielded Pradeep Yadav from Godda constituency.

Here is the seventh phase in numbers:

(1.) Of the 57 seats on which voting will be held, 13 are reserved for candidates from Scheduled Castes and three for those from Scheduled Tribes, according to the Election Commission.

(2.) Odisha's 42 assembly constituencies (General: 27, SC: 9, ST: 6) will poll simultaneously.

(3.) More than 10.06 crore electors will exercise their right to franchise across 1.09 lakh polling stations that will be maintained by 10.9 lakh officials.

Ahead of the last round of polling, dry days have been declared in some states, meaning that liquor shops in these states will remain shut. Read more

The 2024 general elections held in marathon seven phases will come to an end with voting in 57 Lok Sabha constituencies across seven states and a Union Territory on June 1. Polling will take place for 13 Lok Sabha seats each in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand, and single seat of Chandigarh. A total of 904 candidates are in the poll fray across 57 Lok Sabha seats including the high-profile seat of Varanasi from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking a third term. Read more

The mammoth Lok Sabha elections will conclude with polling for the seventh and final phase on June 1. As many as 57 parliamentary constituencies across seven states and the Union territory of Chandigarh, will vote in the last round.