Your one vote will shape India’s development, PM Modi urges people to vote in 'record numbers'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday urged voters in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections to exercise their franchise. He urged the youth to cast their votes in “record numbers”. Taking to micro blogging website Twitter, PM Modi wrote, “Today is the final phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. I urge all those voting in this phase to vote in record numbers. Your one vote will shape India’s development trajectory in the years to come. I also hope first time voters vote enthusiastically.”

Voting for seventh phase of Lok Sabha Polls 2019 is being held in seven states and one Union Territory, which include all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh. A total of 918 candidates from across parties will be testing their luck. Altogether, 10 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise. 

Apart from the final phase of Lok Sabha elections, a bypoll is also being held in Panaji, which was necessitated due to the death of former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar. Bye-elections will also be held in four assembly constituencies of Tamil Nadu – Sulur, Aravakurichi, Ottapidaram (SC) and Thiruparankundram. The Election Commission has set up more than 1.12 lakh polling stations for smooth for smooth conduct of polls.

Several prominent candidates are in the fray in the last phase of elections – Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sukhbir Singh Badal, Sunny Deol, Shatrughan Sinha, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Meira Kumar, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Upendra Kushwaha, Misa Bharti, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Anupriya Patel, Manoj Sinha, Sunil Kumar Jakhar, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Rahul Sinha, Manish Tewari, Abhishek Banerjee, Kirron Anupam Kher, Anurag Thakur and Shibu Soren. 

The Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases, starting from April till May 19. The counting of votes will be held on May 23.