Lok Sabha elections 2019: Notification for Phase 6 of polls issued

New Delhi, Apr 16: The Election Commission on Tuesday issued notification for the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections to be held on May 12 in 59 seats across seven states.

The seven-phase elections began on April 11 and will end on May 19. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal will head for voting in all the seven phases of the general elections. All the seven seats in Delhi will also go for polling in the sixth phase.

Amid sparring between Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Twitter, sources claimed the two sides were "engaged" in taking the alliance talks forward and are likely to meet again on Wednesday over seat sharing between the two.

The Congress chief said his party is willing to give four of the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi to the AAP to ensure that their alliance defeats the BJP, which had won all the seven seats in 2014. The Congress has offered the AAP 4:3 seat-sharing formula, four Lok Sabha seats for the ruling party and three seats for itself. The arrangement has been arrived at on basis of the vote share of both parties in 2017 civic polls here.

The election will pit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance against mostly different opposition groupings in various states, including of Congress, the Left and regional forces which are continuing to work out a grand alliance to minimise a division of votes against the saffron party.

The BJP has worked out a seat-sharing formula with some new allies and several old partners. However, opposition parties are yet to do so in several states. With the issuance of notification, the process of filing nominations has begun. The last date of filing nominations is April 24, while scrutiny will take place on April 24.

The last date of withdrawing from the electoral battle is April 26. The poll for the sixth phase will be held on May 12. Some of the constituencies gong to poll are: Valmiki Nagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Sheohar, Vaishali, Gopalganj, Siwan and Maharajganj in Bihar. In Uttar Pradesh, Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi are going for polls.

Like Delhi, Lok Sabha elections will be held in a single phase in Haryana also. Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Chhindwara and Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh will also go for elections in the sixth phase.

PTI