Number Theory: Unravelling the nuts and bolts of Phase 5 of Lok Sabha polls

Among the seven phases of this election, the fifth phase PCs have had the lowest turnout in all the past three Lok Sabha elections.

Forty-nine parliamentary constituencies (PCs) across six states and the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will vote on Monday in the smallest of the seven phases of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. This will conclude voting in overall 428 (including Surat, where no voting took place) of India’s 543 PCs. At the state level, voting will be over in Maharashtra after today’s polling. Overall, this will conclude voting in 24 of India’s 36 states and UTs. In another four states — Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Jharkhand — the number of PCs that have finished voting will cross the halfway mark today. Here is a look at the past trends in the PCs voting today.

A voter gets finger marked before voting in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections. (PTI)