BJP's Jaiveer Shergill appeals to voters to exercise voting franchise outside polling booth

BJP leader Jaiveer Shergill outside polling booth post casting his vote

BJP leader Jaiveer Shergill appealed to the voters to exercise their voting franchise, as the last and final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election began on Saturday, June 1^st. He asked voters to exercise their right to vote for the country's future and to strengthen democracy.

The BJP leader told ANI "Today is the last stage of elections. I appeal to all the voters in the seventh phase to come in large numbers and vote, especially the people of Punjab should come out and vote to make a record," after casting his vote at a polling booth in Jalandhar.

He expressed his gratitude towards election commission for conducting ‘free and fair' elections. "One should vote for the future of the country and to strengthen democracy," he added.

All 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab went to the polls on Saturday.

Congress' Charanjit Singh Channi, BJP's Shushil Kumar Rinku and AAP's Pawan Kumar Tinu are the main candidates in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency for 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The Scheduled Casts candidates have their reserved seats in Jalandhar constituency.

Congress' Santokh Singh Chaudhary won the constituency with a victory margin of 19,491 votes, securing 3,85,712 votes, in 2019 Lok Sabha elections by defeating Charanjit Singh Atwal of the SAD, who got 3,66,221 votes.

The constituency witnessed a significant voter turnout of 63.05 per cent in 2019.

As the last phase of the election begins, voting is being held in 57 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and the Union Territories including Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal and Punjab.

The 57 Lok Sabha seats of these constituencies are divided into 41 seats for the general category, 3 seats for Scheduled Tribes, and 13 seats for Scheduled Castes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is among the 906 contenders vying for votes in this final phase, which will see 10.06 crore voters eligible to cast their vote.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP had bagged 25 of the seats at stake, while the Congress won 8, and the Trinamool Congress won 9. The Biju Janata Dal won 4 seats and the Janata Dal (United) won 3; the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, Apna Dal, and Akali Dal won 2 seats each; and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Aam Aadmi Party each snagged a single seat.

Voting has been completed in 486 Lok Sabha seats spread across 28 States and Union Territories during the last six phases. The Odisha State Legislative Assembly's 42 remaining Assembly constituencies are holding voting today.

While the people wait for the election results, the counting of votes polled is scheduled to take place on June 4.

(Inputs Taken from ANI)