Lok Sabha polls Phase 3, Live Updates: Facing voters today are Amit Shah in Gujarat, Pawars in Maharashtra, Akhilesh Yadav's kin in UP and more

• A voter turnout of 50.71 per cent was recorded till 3 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal. West Bengal recorded the highest turnout at 63.11 per cent followed by Assam at 63.08 per cent, while Maharashtra witnessed the lowest at 42.63 per cent. According to the Election Commission, a voting percentage of 50.71 was recorded till 3 PM. The voting which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm. A voter turnout of 47.03 per cent was recorded in 25 Lok Sabha seats of Gujarat, an Election Commission (EC) official said.Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were among those who exercised their franchise the state. While PM Modi cast his vote at a polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency, Shah voted at a polling booth in Ahmedabad
  
• A voter turnout of over 39 per cent was recorded till 1 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh. According to the Election Commission, a voting percentage of 39.92 was recorded till 1 PM. The voting which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm. Maharashtra witnessed the lowest voting percentage with 31.55 per cent voters exercising their franchise till 1 pm, while West Bengal recorded the highest with 49.27 per cent. Among other states, Assam recorded 45.88 per cent polling, Bihar 36.69 per cent, Chhattisgarh 46.14 per cent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 39.94 per cent, Goa 49.04 per cent, Gujarat 37.83 per cent, Karnataka 31.55 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 44.67 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 38.12 per cent, the EC said. Over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray in the third phase. Among the bigwigs are Union ministers Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra).Voting was completed in 189 seats out of 543 seats in the first two phases. The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4
  
• A voter turnout of over 25 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of polling in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh. According to the Election Commission, a voting percentage of 25.41 per cent was recorded till 11 am. The voting which started at 7 am will continue till 6 pm. Maharashtra witnessed the lowest voting percentage with 18.8 per cent voters exercising their franchise till 11 am, while West Bengal recorded the highest with 32.82 per cent. Among other states, Assam recorded 27.34 per cent polling, Bihar 24.41 per cent, Chhattisgarh 29.90 per cent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 24.69 per cent, Goa 30.94 per cent, Gujarat 24.35 per cent, Karnataka 24.48 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 30.21 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 26.12 per cent, the EC said. In Uttar Pradesh's Budaun, the villagers of Dhoranpur boycotted the polling to protest against leaders for not paying heed to their demand for a road. District Magistrate Manoj Kumar said the issue has come to his notice and a sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) has been sent to the village. Not a single vote was also cast in three villages of Firozabad -- Nagla Jawahar, Neem Kheria and Nagla Umar -- as the villagers tried to draw the administration's attention to their problems
  
• An approximate voter turnout of 10.81 per cent was recorded in the first two hours of polling in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls. Polling began at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. According to the Election Commission, Maharashtra witnessed the lowest voting percentage till 9 am with 6.64 per cent voters exercising their franchise, while West Bengal recorded the highest in the first two hours with 15.85 per cent. Among other states, Assam recorded 10.12 per cent, Bihar 10.41 per cent, Chhatisgarh 13.24 per cent, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu 10.13 per cent, Goa 13.02 per cent, Gujarat 9.87 per cent, Karnataka 9.45 per cent, Madhya Pradesh 14.43 per cent and Uttar Pradesh 12.94 per cent, the EC said
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi votes at polling booth in Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency. Modi reached the polling booth at Nishan Public School in Ranip locality of Ahmedabad city soon after the polling began at 7 am and cast his vote.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah casts his vote at a polling booth in Ahmedabad under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat
  
• Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel cast his vote for the Lok Sabha elections at a polling booth in Ahmedabad and appealed to the people to exercise their franchise to make the country developed and prosperous
  
• Sharad Pawar casts his vote at Malegaon in Baramati accompanied by Supriya Sule. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar, who is the NCP candidate from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat also cast their votes in the constituency
  

• Veteran BJP leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa was among the early ones to cast their votes in Karnataka, where polling is underway for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections in 14 segments
• Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and Bhagwanth Khuba, and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge were among those who came in early to cast their votes in Karnataka
  
• Former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan & his family cast their votes at a polling booth in Sehore. "I am fortunate to have participated in the festival of democracy. I have voted. Vote is the soul of democracy, a symbol of dedication towards democracy. Everyone should cast their vote..." Chauhan said.
  

The most powerful Union minister after the Prime Minister, a family and party divided in Maharashtra, two former chief ministers of the same state eyeing a Lok Sabha seat and the scion of an erstwhile royal family seeking a comeback are among those whose fates will be decided during the third phase of polling on Tuesday.

Voters of one constituency in Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat, however, won’t get a chance to vote. In Surat, only one candidate, the BJP’s Mukesh Dalal, is left in the fray after all his rivals withdrew. Hence, Dalal has been declared elected already.

In all, the third phase will see voters in 93 constituencies (along with Betul in Madhya Pradesh where polling was moved to from the second phase following the death of a nominee) of 11 states and Union territories exercise their franchise.

Union home minister Amit Shah is seeking a second term from Gandhinagar, which had elected the two tallest leaders in the BJP, the late Atal Bihari Vajpayee (in 1996, the fomer PM retained the Lucknow seat) and L.K. Advani.

In 2019, Shah made his Lok Sabha debut with a victory margin of over five-lakh. He is looking to double that margin this time. Candidates from four smaller political parties and 12 Independents have withdrawn from the fray, leaving the Congress’ Sonal Patel to achieve an impossible task _ win a seat that has always elected a BJP nominee since 1989.

In neighbouring Maharashtra, the Pawar family and the Nationalist Congress Party both split into two. His daughter, the sitting MP Supriya Sule, takes on her cousin Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra. Ajit Pawar’s faction has been recognised as the original party leaving the veteran Pawar and his followers with a new party symbol, Man blowing Tura.’ Three-time MLA and daughter of former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Praniti has been fielded by the Congress from Solapur.

Two descendants of Shivaji Maharaj are in the poll battle on opposing sides. Udayanraje Pratapsinh Bhonsle in Satara is contesting on a BJP ticket, while the Congress has fielded Shahu Chhatrapati Maharaj from Kolhapur.

In Madhya Pradesh’s Guna, the family seat of another erstwhile royal family, the Scindias, from where Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia , contesting on a Congress ticket in 2019, had lost, is back in the reckoning. This time on a BJP ticket. Former chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chauhan and Digvijaya Singh are also in the fray from Vidisha and Rajgarh, respectively.

In Uttar Pradesh, where 10 of the state's 80 seats zre going to polls (elections have been held in 16 seats in the first two phases), Dimple Yadav, wife of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, is seeking re-election from Mainpuri, a seat held by her father-in-law, the late Mulayam Singh Yadav. In 2019, Mulayam had won the seat by a margin of 5.2 lakh votes. Dimple Yadav made her debut in electoral politics in 2022 following the demise of Mulayam and won the seat by 6.2 lakh votes.

Also in the fray is Akhilesh’s cousin, Aditya, who is making his poll debut from Budaun, considered a SP stronghold till five years ago. Another family member, Akshay Yadav, son of the SP secretary-general Ram Gopal Yadav, is in the fray from Firozabad.

In Karnataka, coal minister Pralhad Joshi is seeking a fourth-term from Dharwad, while former chief minister Basavraj Bommai has been fielded by the BJP from Haveri. However, troible is brewing for the BJP in the stronghold of Shimoga where a former chief minister, K S Eshwarappa, is contesting as an Independent against the BJP’s official nominee BY Raghavendra, son of former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Voting in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha seat, where polling was scheduled for Tuesday, has been deferred to May 25.