General Elections 2019: 62.5 Per Cent Voting In Phase 5, Violence In Bengal, Kashmir: 10 Points

51 seats voted in the fifth round of Lok Sabha elections today.

Highlights

51 seats across seven states voting in fifth phase of national election
Rahul Gandhi seeking fourth term in Amethi, Smriti Irani is BJP candidate
Pulwama is voting in the third round of polling in J&K's Anantnag seat

New Delhi: Around 62.5 per cent people voted in the fifth round of the national election - up from 61.76 in 2014 -- that was marked by violence in parts of Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir. In Bengal, two persons, including a BJP candidate, were injured in separate incidents. A grenade was thrown at a polling booth and an explosion set off elsewhere in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama. This phase, the leanest with polling on 51 seats, was crucial in view of the candidates. The list included Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, his mother Sonia Gandhi and Union minister Rajnath Singh. Elections in the remaining 118 seats will be held on May 12 and 19. Counting of votes will be held on May 23.

Here is your 10-point cheat sheet to Phase 5 of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls:

Arjun Singh, the BJP candidate from Bengal's Barrackpore, alleged that he was punched by workers of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress. The car of BJP candidate Locket Chatterjee -- who alleged largescale rigging -- was attacked. Later, she sat on dharna at the office of the local magistrate and demanded a repoll on at least one assembly segment.
In Kashmir's Pulwama -- the Ground Zero of the February 14 suicide attack in which 40 soldiers died -- terrorists threw a grenade at a polling station and set off an explosion at another one. This was the first terror attack in the state on an election day. There was no casualty. Polling took place in Ladakh constituency and in Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag seat.
Voting was also held on 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 12 in Rajasthan, seven seats each in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh, five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is seeking re-election for a fourth consecutive term from family turf Amethi. Challenging him is the BJP's Smriti Irani, who, despite her defeat from the seat in 2014, has frequently visited the area. Ms Irani has accused the Congress of booth capturing. "Alert @ECISVEEP Congress President @RahulGandhi ensuring booth capturing," she tweeted.
Rahul Gandhi's mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, is seeking a fourth term from neighbouring Raebareli. She has been holding the seat after vacating Amethi for Rahul Gandhi in 2004. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is seeking re-election from Lucknow.
The BJP had bagged 12 of the 14 seats going to polls in Uttar Pradesh -- Amethi and Raebareli were also the only two seats the Congress won in the state in 2014. This time, the Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav alliance had not fielded any candidate there as a gesture of courtesy, even though they kept the Congress out of the alliance. On Sunday, Mayawati endorsed the Congress, saying every vote for the mahagathbandhan should go to the party.
Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party contested on five seats - Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj. Its ally Samajwadi Party contested on seven seats -- Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda. Voting will be held in the politically crucial seat of Faizabad, which encompasses Ayodhya, in this round.
Two former Olympians - Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore of the BJP and Krishna Poonia of the Congress - are competing for Jaipur Rural -- one if the 12 Lok Sabha seats that voted today in Rajasthan. This was the last phase of polling in the desert state, which the Congress wrested from the BJP in last year's assembly election.
Among the five seats that went to polls in Bihar were Hajipur and Saran - the first a stronghold of Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and the other of Lalu Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal. The other three constituencies are Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani. Polling started late in Hajipur after electronic voting machines developed problems.
The next phase of the election will be on May 12, in which national capital Delhi will vote.