Patna (Bihar) [India], June 1 (ANI): BJP candidate from Pataliputra Lok Sabha seat Ram Kripal Yadav on Saturday urged people to come out in large numbers to exercise their right to vote.
As his constituency goes to the polls today in the final phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Yadav visited a gaushala in Patna to feed cows. He also appealed to the voters to vote for the BJP for the development of Pataliputra.
"I would appeal to the people of Pataliputra to cast their votes for BJP for the development of Pataliputra. I also want people to come out in large numbers and exercise their right to vote," Yadav told ANI.
In the constituency, his main contender is RJD's Misa Bharti, the daughter of former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad.
Yadav won the last two elections by a small margin. This time, Misa Bharti is backed by a coalition including the RJD, Congress, RJD, Congress, CPI, CPM, CPI-ML, etc.
In 2014, after the split between the BJP and JD(U), Ram Kripal Yadav joined the BJP. riding on the Modi wave, he emerged victorious over Misa Bharti in the elections.
In 2019, Misa Bharti again contested against Ram Kripal Yadav in Pataliputra. Despite being nominated by the RJD, she faced defeat, with Ram Kripal Yadav securing a victory margin of over 39,000 votes.
The seventh and final phase of polling in the largest festival of democracy started on Saturday as voting started in the last 57 parliamentary constituencies at 7 am across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
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.
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.
Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut from the BJP is fighting against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh in Mandi. Union Minister Anurag Thakur is in the fray from Hamirpur, actor-turned-politician Ravi Kishan is contesting from Gorakhpur and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress candidate Abhishek Banerjee is contesting from Diamond Harbour. (ANI)
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