Polls 2019 4th Phase: 64 % voter turnout, violence in West Bengal

New Delhi: Voting began on Monday for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states.

About 12.79 crore people are eligible for voting in the fourth of the seven-phase elections.

The Election Commission has set up 1.40 lakh polling booths/stations and has made elaborate security arrangements.

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Voter-turn out till 12 am: Estimated voter turnout for the 4th phase of LS polls is 23.48% with voting count in Bihar 18.26%, J&K 3.74pc, Jharkhand 29.21 %, Madhya Pradesh 26.62 percent, Maharashtra 16.47%, Odisha 19.67%, Rajasthan 29.169%, Uttar Pradesh 21.18%, West Bengal 35.10%

Live updates from LS polls 2019 fourth phase:

Actor turned politician Sunny Deol files his nomination as the BJP candidate from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency.

Voter-turn out till 11 am: 21.15% voter turnout recorded on 13 parliamentary constituencies in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, 29.40% voting recorded till 11 am in Rajasthan, Estimated polling percentage of 29.21% recorded till 11 am in Jharkhand, 17.07% voter turnout recorded in five parliamentary constituencies of Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai and Munger, in #Bihar.

In the naxal-affected sensitive area of Jharkhand, polling is being conducted for the first time at booth number 249 in Jagodih area of Palamu constituency.

Voter-turn out till 9 am: 10.27% voter turnout recorded in #Phase4 of #LokSabhaElections2019 across 9 states, till 9 am., 16.90pc votes cast in Bengal amid sporadic violence, 0.91% polling recorded in Kulgam, J-K, 7.92 per cent voting recorded till 9 am in 5 LS seats of Bihar, Over 13% voting recorded in first 2 hours in Rajasthan, 6.82% in Maharashtra (17 seats), 11.11% in Madhya Pradesh (6 seats) and 9% in Odisha (6) and 16.90% in West Bengal (8 seats)

BJP MP candidate from Asansol, West Bengal, Babul Supriyo's car vandalised in Asansol. According to a TMC polling agent, there is no BJP polling agent here.

CPI candidate from Begusarai, Kanhaiya Kumar who is contesting against BJP leader Giriraj Singh, arrives to cast his vote at a polling centre in the city. The young leader said, "Begusarai ko badnam karne wali takton ko Begusarai mein muh ki khani padegi." He is

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das cast his vote at polling booth number 40 & 41 at Peddar Road.

Rs 64,500 cash seized from car outside Sena nominee's office

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Polling will be held in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

The stakes are high for the ruling BJP and its allies as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (six seats) and the Biju Janata Dal (six).

The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided in this phase.

Among other key contestants in the fray are Kanhaiya Kumar (CPI), Baijayant Panda (BJP), Urmila Matondkar (Congress), Dimple Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satabdi Roy (TMC) and Milind Deora (Congress).

Election in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP had cornered all but two of the total 54 seats in 2014, will begin in this phase. The Congress appeared to make a comeback, forming the governments in the states after last year's Assembly polls.

With this phase, election will come to an end in Maharashtra and Odisha.

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Voting is also being held in some Assembly constituencies in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh.

In the first three phases, voting has been held in 302 Lok Sabha constituencies, and 168 more seats will go to polls in the last three phases.

Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. Election in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled following excess use of money power. Results will be declared on May 23.

(PTI)