India votes in fifth phase of elections

Millions of Indians across 49 constituencies are casting ballots on Monday as the country’s six-week-long election enters its final stages.

News agencies reported that Monday’s polling in the fifth round of multi-phase national elections are held across six states and two union territories.

The staggered election will run until June 1 and nearly 970 million eligible voters, more than 10 per cent of the world’s population, will elect 543 members to the lower house of Parliament for five years. The votes are scheduled to be counted on June 4.

With two more phases of polling left, overall voter turnout has been lower than in previous elections.