Polling tomorrow on 5 LS seats of Uttarakhand; BJP hopes to repeat 2019 feat, Congress looking to open its account

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], April 18 : Polling booths are being prepared, security arrangements have been made, helicopter services have been set up, polling parties have left for their respective stations and directions for essential services have been issued, all ahead of the first phase of voting in Uttarakhand's five Lok Sabha seats on April 19.
Polling for Uttarakhand's five Lok Sabha seats will take place on Friday, with the BJP hoping to retain all the five seats for the third time and the Congress attempting to reclaim lost momentum in the state.
Voting will begin at 7 am across 11,729 polling stations and continue until 5 pm, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande said.
The five seats going to polls on Friday are Haridwar, Pauri Garhwal, Tehri Garhwal, Nainital-Udham Singh Nagar and the lone reserved seat of Almora.
More than 83 lakh voters will decide the fate of 55 candidates in the fray.
Meanwhile, pulling parties left for their respective polling stations ahead of single-phase voting on 5 Lok Sabha seats scheduled for Friday (April 19).

Hours before the first phase of Lok Sabha polls starts on April 19, Uttarakhand's Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Vijay Kumar Jogdande, provided information about the booths being prepared for the polls.
Speaking to ANI, Jogdande informed that they have arranged two helicopters for emergency service, adding that the voting this time will be casualty-free and no emergency situation would arise.
"All polling parties are leaving and we have arranged two helicopters for their emergency service. One helicopter will be deployed in Garhwal and another one will be deployed in Kumaon. It will be used only for emergency purposes. Booth-level help management plans are also available with the numbers of Community Health Centres (CHCs) and ambulances," he said on Wednesday.
Uttarakhand Chief Electoral Officer BVRCC Purushottam held a meeting with all the departments and agencies related to essential services in the Secretariat on Thursday.
The Chief Electoral Officer directed in the meeting that medical staff should be present in all hospitals on the day of polling till the end of polling.
Apart from this, the concerned departments related to electricity and drinking water supply should ensure arrangements at all polling stations.
The Chief Electoral Officer has instructed the Public Works Department to keep all highways, roads, and connecting roads on alert mode given landslides or any other obstruction till the safe return of the polling parties to their destinations.
Uttarakhand has traditionally witnessed a close contest between the BJP and Congress. Both parties see the state as an essential battleground for displaying and gaining supporters for their national narratives.
In Uttarakhand, the BJP had won all the Lok Sabha seats in the elections in both the 2014 and 2019 elections. With 47 out of 70 assembly seats, the BJP dominated in the 2022 assembly polls, while Congress got 19 seats. BSP and Independents hold 2 seats each.
The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast their votes in the general elections this time. The counting of the votes is scheduled for June 4.
Campaigning for 102 parliamentary constituencies distributed across 21 states and Union territories, where voting will be held in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 19, concluded on Wednesday.
In the first phase, polling will be held in Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Assam (5), Bihar (4), Chhattisgarh (1), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (5), Manipur (2), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Rajasthan (12), Sikkim (1), Tamil Nadu (39), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (3), Andaman and Nicobar (1), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Lakshadweep (1) and Puducherry (1).