A 48-hour silence period at 94 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 12 States and Union Territories commenced at 6 p.m. on May 5 with the conclusion of campaigning for the third phase of the Lok Sabha election. Voting will take place on May 7. Polling for more than half of the total number of constituencies will be completed by the end of this phase.
Among the prominent contestants in the fray in the third phase are Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Gandhinagar, Gujarat); Union Minister Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad, Karnataka); Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna, Madhya Pradesh); former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh); Congress leader Digvijaya Singh (Rajgarh, Madhya Pradesh); Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh); and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule (Baramati, Maharashtra).
Also Read: Lok Sabha elections 2024 phase 3 voting LIVE - May 7th
Section 126 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 prohibits election campaign activities through public meetings, processions, etc., and display of election matter by means of television and similar platforms, during the silence period.
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“In a multi-phased election, the silence period of last 48 hours may be on in certain constituencies while campaign is ongoing in other constituencies. In such an event, there should not be any direct or indirect reference amounting to soliciting support for parties or candidates in the constituencies observing the silence period. During the silence period, star campaigners and other political leaders should refrain from addressing the media by way of press conferences and giving interviews on election matters,” according to the Election Commission of India.
The process of filing nominations for the 94 constituencies in the third phase began on April 12. The last date for filing nominations was April 19.
This phase will cover the 25 constituencies of Gujarat, where the BJP candidate from Surat has been elected unopposed; two of Goa (North Goa and South Goa); and the remaining 14 constituencies in Karnataka.
General Election 2024: full schedule
Election for the Betul seat was shifted from the second to the third phase after the death of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.
Bhind, Bhopal, Guna, Gwalior, Morena, Rajgarh, Sagar, and Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh are also scheduled to vote on May 7.
In Assam, the constituencies of Dhubri, Kokrajhar, Barpeta and Guwahati will go to the polls. In Bihar, polls will be conducted in the Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, and Khagaria constituencies. In Chhattisgarh, the constituencies of Surguja, Raigarh, Janjgir-Champa, Korba, Bilaspur, Durg, and Raipur will go to the polls. In Maharashtra, polls will be held for the Baramati, Raigad, Osmanabad, Latur, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, and Hatkanangle seats.
Also going to the polls in the third phase are Sambhal, Hathras, Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Budaun, Aonla, and Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh; Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur, and Murshidabad in West Bengal; and the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu.
Voting in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag-Rajouri constituency has been rescheduled to May 25 in the sixth phase.
