"People are regretting their mistake...": Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge casts vote in Karnataka's Kalaburagi
Kalaburagi: Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge and his son Priyank Kharge cast their votes at a polling station in Gundugurthi village in Kalaburagi for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Tuesday.
"All the businessmen and the poor people will together make Congress win this time. People are regretting that they made a mistake last time and they will elect Congress party with a huge majority," Kharge said after voting.
Congress has filed Kharge's son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani against BJP's Dr Umesh Jadhav from Kalaburagi.
After casting his vote, Priyank Kharge said, "I am very confident that the Congress government is going to be extremely triumphant... The last 10 years of Modi's tenure have been disastrous for India and for Kalaburagi. The people are quite disappointed and this time they will vote for progress."
Karnataka has recorded 9.45 per cent turnout during the first two hours since voting began for the third phase of Lok Sabha polls.
West Bengal is leading the voter turnout in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections at 14.60 per cent till 9:00 AM on Tuesday, as per the data released by the Election Commission of India. Madhya Pradesh is also witnessing a high voter turnout of 14.22 per cent. Maharashtra has recorded the lowest turnout till 9 am at 6.64 per cent.
Voting percentages for other states participating in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls at 9 am are-- Assam--10.12 per cent, Bihar--10.03 per cent, Chhattisgarh--13.24 per cent, Goa--12.35 per cent, Gujarat--9.87, and Uttar Pradesh--12.13 per cent.
In this phase, more than 1300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray.
A total of 17.24 crore voters are eligible to cast their franchise in this phase at 1.85 lakh polling stations. Seventy-five delegates from 23 countries will see the poll process, the poll panel said.
Prominent leaders to contest in today's poll battle include Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav, and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, among others.
In the 2019 general election, the BJP won 72 of the 93 seats that go to the polls today. The Lok Sabha elections are being held across seven phases, from April 19 to June 1. The counting is scheduled for June 4.
