India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 4: Who votes and what’s at stake?
Al Jazeera
People from across 10 states and union territories will vote on May 13 to elect 96 MPs for the Lok Sabha.
India is bracing itself for the fourth phase of its weeks-long elections on May 13 to elect 96 members of parliament to the Lok Sabha, or the lower house of parliament, as the world’s largest electoral exercise moves into its final month.
The two main contenders for power are Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of 26 parties led by the main opposition party, Rahul Gandhi‘s Indian National Congress.
Last week, the third phase of the voting saw Modi cast his vote in Gujarat’s Gandhinagar constituency. It also saw the competition between the two main contenders heighten as the Congress Party’s former President Sonia Gandhi said Modi and the BJP were focusing “only on gaining power at any cost”.
The fourth phase also features a bit of glamour in the east of the country, where Bollywood veteran Shatrughan Sinha is seeking re-election in West Bengal’s Asansol, and to the south, where actress Maadhavi Latha from the BJP is standing for the Hyderabad seat in Telangana. Latha is pitted against Asaduddin Owaisi, a four-time MP from the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen party.
The first three phases of the election, which were held on April 19, April 26 and May 7, saw a voter turnout of 66.1, 66.7, and 61 percent, respectively. The voting so far has been lower than in the 2019 elections. In total, 969 million people are registered to vote in 543 parliamentary constituencies across 36 states and federally-governed union territories.
Germany calls the allegations ‘very serious’, as Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban orders probe into alleged ‘wiretapping’.
Iran parliament speaker says US president using idea of talks to ‘escape quagmire in which US and Israel are trapped’.
The US president has proven that hitting hard and fast rather than engaging in endless negotiations guarantees victory.
Lebanon fears that Israel’s attack on Qasmiyeh Bridge could be a “prelude to a ground invasion”.
Donald Trump’s Strait of Hormuz deadline for Iran raises concerns about attacks on energy in the Middle East.
Members of the International Energy Agency have agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves.
Democrats and other observers slam deployment of US immigration agents to airports as dangerous and source of tension.
Locals in northern India have a growing concern over costs of essential resources due to the Iran war.
Esmaeil Baghaei denies the long-range missile attack, which could change the calculus of the war for US allies.
