J-K Governor Manoj Sinha cast his vote in UP's Ghazipur, urges voters to participate

Ghazipur: Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha cast his vote at a polling booth in Mohanpura village of Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday urging voters to participate in the democratic process.
"This is a festival of democracy, and I appeal to all the voters for maximum participation in voting," Sinha said after casting his vote in the seventh and final Phase of the Lok Sabha election 2024.
Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party's Lok Sabha candidate from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari cast his vote at a polling booth in the constituency.
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.
Uttar Pradesh is voting in all seven phases of the Lok Sabha polls, the last phase of which is ongoing.
The Congress is fighting the polls in partnership with the Samajwadi Party in the state and has a seat-sharing agreement with each other.
As per the seat agreement, Congress is contesting 17 seats, and the Samajwadi Party has the remaining 63 seats in the electorally crucial state.
In the 2019 general elections, the BJP emerged triumphant, securing 62 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, supplemented by two seats clinched by its ally Apna Dal (S). Mayawati's BSP managed to secure 10 seats, while Akhilesh Yadav's SP garnered five. Conversely, the Congress party secured only one seat.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats is being held in seven phases starting April 19. The counting of the votes will be held on June 4.