As the second phase of voting for the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 kicked off in the country on Friday, a groom-to-be from Maharashtra's Amravati grabbed headlines for an extraordinary reason. Ahead of his wedding, he was spotted with his family at the polling station to cast his vote.
Decked out in his wedding attire, Groom Akash, hailing from the Vadarpura area of Amravati, did not let his wedding deter him from exercising his duties as a citizen. Before heading to his wedding venue, Ankur arrived at the polling station with his family to cast his vote.
Speaking to the media, Akash said, "The wedding ceremony is important, but so is voting. The wedding is at 2 pm today."
Significantly, this is not the first time such cases of brides and grooms coming straight from wedding venues or elderly people, sometimes above 90 years old, coming to vote have been reported from the country. Recently, during the first phase of polling, Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua witnessed a bride and groom appearing at the Buddhi polling booth to cast their votes along with the whole wedding procession. In a similar incident, another newly-married couple exercised their right to vote immediately after getting married in Udhampur. The groom had gone to cast his vote along with his bride. After voting, the bride appealed to everyone to vote, emphasizing that one must vote for the development of the country and one's area.
Meanwhile, it is pertinent to note that in the second phase, polling has started in 88 Lok Sabha constituencies spread across 13 states and Union Territories. All 20 seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, 8 each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, 6 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 each in Bihar and Assam, 3 each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and 1 each in Tripura, Jammu and Kashmir, and Manipur are going for polls in the second phase. The Election Commission had earlier announced that the voting in the Betul constituency of Madhya Pradesh would not take place on April 26 in the second phase due to the death of a Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate.
BJP's Navneet Rana to face Congress candidate Balwant Baswant Wankhede
Maharashtra's Amravati is one of the hotly contested Lok Sabha seats. In the 2024 polls, BJP candidate and sitting MP Navneet is in a direct fight with MVA candidate and Congress leader Balwant Baswant Wankhede to retain her seat. Significantly, Rana had won the Amravati seat in 2019 as an Independent backed by several opposition parties. Further, the regional small parties - Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi, Republican Sena, and Prahar Janshakti Party are also attempting to make the poll fight a multi-cornered one.
BR Ambedkar's grandson and Republican Sena leader Anandraj Ambedkar are also in the fray from Amravati Lok Sabha constituency. He has sought the support of Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM, making the contest triangular.
