SP's Ghazipur LS candidate Afzal Ansari casts his vote

Ghazipur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], June 1 (ANI): Samajwadi Party's Lok Sabha candidate from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari cast his vote at a polling booth in the constituency on Saturday.
Afzal Ansari is pitted against BJP's Paras Nath Rai and BSP's Umesh Kumar Singh. Ansari's brother and former MLA Sibgatullah Ansari also cast his vote at a polling booth in Ghazipur.
Ansari, who started his political career with the Communist Party of India in the early 1980s, was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2019 on a BSP ticket. He returned to his old party, the SP after being given a ticket to contest from Ghazipur.
Afzal Ansari is the brother of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansasri, who died in a UP jail recently.
"Every voter is happy after casting their vote in this great festival of democracy. The people should participate in the biggest festival of democracy. People should cast their votes. Wait for June 4, the INDIA bloc will form the government in Delhi," he said after casting his vote.
The seventh and final phase of polling in the largest festival of democracy started on Saturday as voting started in the last 57 parliamentary constituencies at 7 am across seven states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
The seventh phase marks a grand finish to the world's largest polling marathon that began on the 19th of last month and has already covered six phases and 486 Lok Sabha seats.
According to the Election Commission of India, over 10.06 crore electors including approximately 5.24 crore male, 4.82 crore female, and 3574 third gender electors are expected to exercise their franchise.
A total of 904 candidates are in the fray for the final phase of polling. The prominent candidates in the fray in this phase include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nishikant Dubey, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Congress leaders Manish Tewari, Charanjit Singh Channi, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Misa Bharti.
Actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut from the BJP is fighting against Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh in Mandi. Union Minister Anurag Thakur is in the fray from Hamirpur, actor-turned-politician Ravi Kishan is contesting from Gorakhpur and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew and Trinamool Congress candidate Abhishek Banerjee is contesting from Diamond Harbour.
Six assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh will also go for by-polls on June 1. The outcome will have a bearing on the Congress government in the state. All six seats going to the polls were held by Congress and MLAs from these seats cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls.
The seven States in which polling is ongoing include Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. Polling for the remaining 42 Assembly Constituencies of the Odisha State Legislative Assembly will also take place simultaneously. The counting of votes will take place on June 4. (ANI)