Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday cited surveys and said the INDIA bloc will win over 300 of 543 Lok Sabha seats and form the next government.  He said the 5th phase of the Lok Sabha elections is over.

Kejriwal was addressing a digital press conference from his residence where he said as different phases of elections are over, it has become clear that on June 4, the INDIA bloc will win and form the next government at the centre. The findings of many surveys show that on June 4, the INDIA bloc is going to get over 300 seats. He added that the INDIA bloc is progressing and is on the way to give a clean and stable government.

The Delhi chief minister addressed the press conference days before Delhi’s all seven Lok Sabha seats are due to go for elections in the 6th phase of voting on May 25. The Aam Aadmi Party, a key constituent of the INDIA bloc, is contesting 4 of the 7 Lok Sabha seats in alliance with Congress. The BJP swept the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi in 2014 and 2019, winning all 7 seats.

Top leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath , Amit Shah (BJP), Kejriwal, and Rahul Gandhi (Congress) have campaigned in New Delhi which is going to end on May 23. Earlier The Delhi Chief Minister had slammed Amit Shah a day after he addressed an election rally in Delhi on Monday. 

He slammed the union Home minister and said not even 500 people attended Amit Shah’s rally. He accused Shah of abusing the people of the country and Delhi. Kejriwal accused Shah of calling AAP supporters as Pakistanis. He said the people of Delhi gave AAP 62 out of 70 [assembly] seats and asked if they were Pakistanis?  

BJP on Monday issued a show cause notice to former Union Minister Jayant Sinha for not participating in the Lok Sabha elections after Manish Jaiswal was declared candidate from the Hazaribagh Lok Sabha seat and thereby maligning the party’s image. Jayant Sinha is the son of former union finance minister Yashwant Sinha and is the sitting MP of Hazaribag. Sinha did not participate in elections in Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat.

Sinha has been accused of not paying attention to his organizational duties and did not participate in the election campaigning since Jaiswal’s candidacy was announced. His absence during elections in Hazaribag Lok Sabha seat on Monday has further intensified the situation in BJP. The notice issued on Monday requires Sinha to provide an explanation within 2 days, as per instructions from state BJP president and former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi. Sahu said further actions will depend on Sinha’s response.

Attempts were made to reach him for his comments but Sinha remained unavailable and did not respond to calls and messages. Earlier Sinha took to X and expressed his desire to shift his focus towards combating global climatic change and highlighting his attention to continue working with economic and governance issues.

In the past Hazaribag has been represented by both Yashwant Sinha and his son Jayant Sinha and holds substantial political weight in Jharkhand. In the 2019 general elections Jayant Sinha was victorious by a margin of 4.79 lakh votes and defeated Congress’s Gopal Sahu. Jaiswal whose nomination sparked controversy had earlier contested elections from the Mandu assembly seat on a JVM ticket.

 Earlier Jayant Sinha has served on India’s council of ministers from 2014 and 2019, and also as the minister of state for finance and minister of state of civil aviation. The BJP MP is also known for helping launch the UDAN regional connectivity scheme that increased the number of operational airports in India by 50% in 3 years.

A voter turnout of 56.68 % was recorded in phase 5 till 5 pm as per the Election Commission’s Voter Turnout App, with the highest voting percentage in West Bengal (73 %) and the lowest in Maharashtra (48.66 %). Lok Sabha elections are taking place in 49 constituencies across 8 states and Union Territories in the 5th phase of Lok Sabha elections 2024.

Voter turnout of 56.68% was recorded till 5pm. The breakup is as follows: J&K: 54.21%, Bihar: 52.35%, Ladakh: 67.15%, Jharkhand: 61.90%, Maharashtra: 48.66%, UP: 55.80%, Odisha: 60.55% and West Bengal: 73%. The fate of 4 Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, as well as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be decided in the ongoing Lok Sabha election. Former UP CM Mayawati, BJP’s Rae Bareli candidate Dinesh Pratep Singh, Smriti Irani were among the early voters today who cast their vote in the morning.

 The Lucknow East Lok Sabha seat will also hold a bypoll on the same day. The Lok Sabha seats which are participating in this phase include Rae Bareli, Mohanlalganj, Jalaun (SC), Amethi, Hamirpur, Jhansi, Banda, Kaushambi (SC), Fatehpur, Faizabad, Barabanki (SC), Gonda  and Kaisarganj. The candidates also include and minister of state of consumer affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur) and minister of state for housing and urban affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj). Rahul Gandhi is contesting from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat which was previously held by his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

 The total number of voters expected to cast their vote in this phase is over 2.68 crore voters, with 144 candidates looking for their support. 11 BJP incumbent Lok Sabha MPs are contesting in this phase, while nominating new candidates in Kaisarganj and Barabanki (SC) Lok Sabha seats.