LS polls Phase 5 voting begins: Anil Ambani, Akshay Kumar among early voters

Mumbai: Voting for the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections 2024 began on Monday morning across 49 parliamentary constituencies spread over six states and two Union Territories (UTs) amid tight security and arrangements. Industrialist Anil Ambani cast his vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections today in Mumbai. Actor Akshay Kumar was also among the first at his designated polling booth to cast his vote.

Actor Farhan Akhtar and sister Zoya Akhtar also arrive to cast their votes at Mount Mary Convent High School in Bandra.

The voting started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), polling for 35 assembly constituencies of the Odisha legislative assembly will also take place simultaneously on Monday. As per the



ECI, 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.

The fifth phase will witness key contests in various constituencies. 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 are looking for electoral success. Eight states/UTs going for polls in phase 5 are: Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.Cities like Mumbai, Thane, and Lucknow are going to the polls in this phase, which has in the past suffered from urban apathy in voting.