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Bollywood celebrities came out in numbers in Mumbai on Monday to cast their votes in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections . Among veterans from the film industry who stepped out of their homes to exercise their franchise were Bollywood superstar Salman Khan's parents, Salim Khan and Salma Khan.
Shutterbugs snapped pictures of the pair at a polling booth in Mumbai. A few days ago, Salman had shared a post on X and encouraged people to step out of their houses and cast their vote. Salman informed all that he would be voting on May 20 and expects everyone else to do so for their motherland. His post on X read, "I exercise 365 days a year no matter what, and now I'm going to exercise my right to vote on the 20th of May no matter what. So do whatever you want to do man, but go and vote and don't trouble your Bharat Mata. Bharat Mata ki Jai (sic)." The voting on Monday started at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm, with those in line by the closing time still allowed to vote. As per the ECI, over 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5409 third-gender electors, will decide the fate of 695 candidates in the fifth phase of voting. The fifth phase witnesses key contests in various constituencies.Leaders such as Rahul Gandhi, BJP leaders Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ramvilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah, and RJD leader Rohini Acharya are looking for electoral success. Eight states/UTs going for polls in phase 5 are Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.Of the 49 Lok Sabha seats, 14 are from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, 7 from West Bengal, 5 from Bihar, 3 from Jharkhand, 5 from Odisha, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. In a bid to create a peaceful atmosphere for the electors, a total of 2,000 flying squads, 2105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams, and 502 video viewing teams are keeping surveillance round the clock across the 94,732 polling stations. (ANI)
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