VOTING is underway for all seven seats in the national capital under the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is aiming to maximise voter turnout before noon. The party is actively encouraging voters to reach polling booths through booth-level management by its workers. Also, prominent leaders and candidates cast their votes early in the morning to motivate both workers and voters. Among those who cast their votes early in the day include Union Ministers S. Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, BJP’s Delhi State President Virendra Sachdeva, former MP and former international cricketer Gautam Gambhir, and Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor. BJP candidate Bansuri Swaraj, contesting from New Delhi, voted after offering prayers at Jhandewala temple; while Harsh Malhotra, the candidate from East Delhi, cast his vote after visiting a temple. Praveen Khandelwal, BJP candidate from Chandni Chowk, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, candidate from South Delhi, and Yogendra Chandolia, candidate from North West Delhi, also exercised their voting rights. To inspire public participation, several BJP leaders voted with their families. Following their votes, senior BJP leaders appealed to public to come out and vote, expressing confidence in winning all seven seats in Delhi and forming an NDA coalition Government again at Centre.

 

To secure victory in all seven seats in Delhi, BJP has fielded Kamaljeet Sehrawat from West Delhi, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri from South Delhi, Yogendra Chandolia from North West Delhi, Harsh Malhotra from East Delhi, Manoj Tiwari from North East Delhi, Praveen Khandelwal from Chandni Chowk, and Bansuri Swaraj from New Delhi. Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress are jointly contesting against BJP in Delhi, with AAP contesting four seats and Congress three seats, according to their alliance formula. Richest woman Savitri Jindal casts vote: BJP leader and richest Indian woman with $33 billion net worth, Savitri Jindal, whose youngest son Naveen Jindal is also in the fray, on Saturday cast her vote at her hometown Hisar in Haryana. Besides former State Minister Savitri Jindal (74), who is the Chairperson of the Jindal Group, founded by her late husband, Om Prakash Jindal, in 1979, Chief Minister Nayab Saini and his predecessor Manohar Lal Khattar were among the early voters to cast their votes at their respective polling stations. After casting the vote, Savitri told the media that the country has developed at a fast pace under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government. Seemingly confident about the BJP’s prospects in the general elections, she added, “Prime Minister Modi will be elected for a third consecutive term.”

 

Savitri’s youngest son Naveen Jindal (54) is the BJP’s candidate from Kurukshetra, the seat he represented between 2004 and 2014. Savitri and her son switched from the Congress to the BJP in March, ending their nearly two-decade association with the Congress. Jindal is taking on AAP candidate and former Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Gupta. The AAP is contesting the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana in an alliance with Congress and has been given Kurukshetra. The Congress is contesting on the remaining nine seats in alliance with AAP. Savitri joined politics following the death of her husband won the 2005 Hisar assembly bypoll and joined the Haryana Government. Later, she won the Assembly polls from Hisar in 2009 and became a minister in 2013. Polling started at 7 a.m. across all the 10 Lok Sabha seats and a bypoll of the Karnal Assembly seat amid tight security in the sixth and penultimate phase of the general elections. It will continue till 6 p.m. Votes will be counted on June 4.