“It’s a big responsibility towards country”: RajKummar emphasises importance of each vote

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 20 (ANI): As the fifth phase of voting in Lok Sabha elections kick-started on Monday morning, several celebrities from Bollywood stepped out to cast their votes in Mumbai, India’s financial and entertainment capital. Actor RajKummar Rao was among the early voters.

After casting his vote at his designated polling booth in Mumbai, RajKummar talked about the role of a responsible citizen while speaking to the media.

“It is a big responsibility towards our country, we should vote. Through us, if people can get influenced then of course that’s the biggest thing that we can do to make people aware of the importance of voting. So I’m very happy that the Election Commission chose me to be the national icon and I appeal to all to please come out and cast your vote… We all want our nation to grow, to shine. It’s already shining. I’m sure it’s going to shine even more,” he said.

Elections in 6 Lok Sabha seats of Mumbai are underway for Phase 5. The seats are Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South and Mumbai South Central.The other constituencies of Maharashtra that are a part of the ongoing election in the fifth phase include Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi and Thane.Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second largest after Uttar Pradesh. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held in seven phases running from April 19 to June 1.The counting and results will be declared on June 4.

The voting started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote. As per the ECI, over 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5409 third-gender electors, will decide the fate of 695 candidates in the fifth phase of voting.The fifth phase witnesses key contests in various constituencies. Leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Rohini Acharya are looking for electoral success.

Eight states/UTs going for polls in phase 5 are: Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.Of the 49 Lok Sabha seats, 14 are from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, 7 from West Bengal, 5 from Bihar, 3 from Jharkhand, 5 from Odisha, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.In a bid to create a peaceful atmosphere for the electors, a total of 2,000 flying squads, 2105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams, and 502 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock across the 94,732 polling stations.