Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 5: ‘Dry day’ in these Maharashtra cities till May 20 starting at 5 pm today

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 5: In Maharashtra, 13 constituencies, including Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan, Palghar, Dhule, Dindori, and others will go for voting.

Due to the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha Election 2024, four cities in Maharashtra – Mumbai, Palghar, Kalyan, and Thane – will observe “dry days” as they fall within the constituencies scheduled for voting. This prohibition began at 5 p.m. on Saturday and will remain in effect until 5 p.m. on May 20.

Lok Sabha Election 2024 Phase 5: A “dry day” denotes a restriction on the sale of alcohol. (File)

A “dry day” denotes a restriction on the sale of alcohol. As the sale of liquor is regulated by state laws, prohibition regulations vary across the nation.

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In compliance with the Election Commission of India's (ECI) instructions, the constituencies conducting elections and neighbouring constituencies will observe dry days. This measure is intended “to ensure a fair electoral process across the state.”

Furthermore, another dry day is scheduled for June 4 in Mumbai for the vote-counting process.

Maharashtra Lok Sabha polls Phase 5

In Maharashtra, the fifth voting phase will cover 13 Lok Sabha constituencies.

In Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections, the constituencies going for the voting process include Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South, Thane, Kalyan, Palghar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, and Bhiwandi.

In the upcoming phase, one of the key candidates is Union Minister Piyush Goyal, who is contesting for the first time from the Mumbai North constituency. Goyal faces actor-politician Bhushan Patil in this electoral battle.

During the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections, Maharashtra witnessed an overall voter turnout of 52.63 per cent. Among the 11 constituencies that went to polls, Nandurbar recorded the highest turnout at about 60.60 per cent.

Lok Sabha Election Phase 5

In addition to Maharashtra, voting will occur in 36 other constituencies across Uttar Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, and Jharkhand.

Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections, covering 49 constituencies spread across eight States/Union Territories, is scheduled for Monday. The Election Commission reports that 695 candidates are competing in these constituencies. This figure was derived after reviewing 1,586 nomination forms submitted for the fifth phase, of which 749 were deemed valid by the May 3 deadline.

Voting will commence at 7 am and conclude at 6 pm. According to the ECI, the average number of contesting candidates per parliamentary constituency in the fifth phase is 18.