Harbhajan Singh cast his vote in last and final phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024

Jalandhar [Punjab], June 1 (ANI): Former India spinner and AAP Rajya Sabha MP Harbhajan Singh cast his vote in the last and final phase of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 on Saturday.

After casting his vote, the former cricketer appealed to everyone to come out and vote to elect a government that could work for them.

"Today is a very important day for all of us and I would appeal to everyone to come out and vote and elect a government that can work for you," Harbhajan told ANI.

In Jalandhar, the former Chief Minister of Punjab Charanjit Channi is the INDIA bloc candidate and is up against BJPs Sushil Rinku, AAP's Pawan Kumar Tinu and Mohinder Singh Kaypee of the Akali Dal. All 13 parliamentary constituencies of Punjab are voting on Saturday in the last phase.

The seventh phase marks a grand finish to the world's largest polling marathon that began on the 19th of last month and has already covered six phases and 486 Lok Sabha seats.

According to the Election Commission of India, over 10.06 crore electors including approximately 5.24 crore male, 4.82 crore female and 3574 third gender electors are expected to exercise their franchise.

Ahead of voting, mock polls were conducted at various polling booths in the country, like in West Bengal's Jadavpur and Rashbehari Assembly constituency in South Kolkata.

Mock polling was also conducted at a polling booth in 35, Karakat constituency, and Arrah Assembly constituency of Bhojpur district in Bihar, Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, in Balasore Lok Sabha constituency in Odisha and Dumka constituency in Jharkhand.

A total of 904 candidates are in the fray for the final phase of polling. The prominent candidates in the fray in this phase include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nishikant Dubey, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Congress leaders Manish Tewari, Charanjit Singh Channi, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Misa Bharti.

The seven States in which polling is scheduled include Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly Constituencies of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly will also take place simultaneously.

The polling for 28 States/UTs and 486 parliamentary constituencies has been completed smoothly and peacefully. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI)