New Delhi: As India enters Phase 6 of the Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday urged citizens to vote in large numbers, emphasizing that every vote counts. Taking to ‘X’, the Prime Minister said that democracy thrives when people are engaged and active in the electoral process.

"I urge all those who are voting in the 6th phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to vote in large numbers. Every vote counts, make yours count too! Democracy thrives when its people are engaged and active in the electoral process. I specially urge women voters and youth voters to vote in large numbers," the prime minister added.

Voting for the sixth and penultimate phase of the general election began Saturday morning in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories, including all the seven seats in Delhi and the Jangal Mahal region in Bengal. Over 11.13 crore voters -- 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5,120 third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Election Commission (EC) has deployed around 11.4 lakh polling officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations.

With large parts of India sweltering under a heatwave, the EC has directed election officials and state machineries to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.

Among the prominent candidates in the fray in this phase are Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, BJP's Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Lal Khattar and Manoj Tiwari, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress' Deepender Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Kanhaiya Kumar.

In West Bengal, voting will be held in the tribal belt Jangal Mahal region, spanning five districts. A hotspot for identity politics, the region sends eight representatives to Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls.

An interesting fight is on the cards in Delhi with the BJP and the INDIA bloc partners pitted in a direct, one-on-one contest in all the seven seats.

This is the first time the AAP and the Congress have fielded joint candidates against the BJP. While the AAP is contesting four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates on the remaining three seats.

The seats going to the polls in Uttar Pradesh are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi.

From Sultanpur, BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi is seeking her ninth entry into the Lok Sabha. The former Union minister is up against the Samajwadi Party's Ram Bhual Nishad and the Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Uday Raj Verma.

Around 82.16 lakh voters, including 40.09 lakh females, are eligible to exercise their franchise in Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Jamshedpur constituencies of Jharkhand.

Haryana is witnessing a direct fight between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress on most seats. Besides Union ministers Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar and former chief minister Khattar, and Congress's Kumari Selja, Deepender Singh Hooda and Raj Babbar are among the candidates.

The last phase, that is seventh phase of polling will be on the 1st of June for remaining 57 parliamentary constituencies with the counting of votes scheduled on June 4. Polling for 25 States/UTs and 428 PCs was completed in a smooth and peaceful manner in the first five phases of the General Elections.