Lok Sabha polls: After stealing attention at Cannes, Kiara returns home to cast vote

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 20 (ANI): After creating waves in Cannes, actor Kiara Advani is now back in India. She may have been jet-lagged but she did not forget to fulfil her duty of a responsible citizen.

Hours after arriving in India on Monday morning, Kiara was spotted at a polling booth in Mumbai, where she cast her vote.

In the visuals captured by ANI, the ‘Kabir Singh’ star is seen exercising her vote. Dressed in a white suit, Kiara kept her appearance simple and basic.

Earlier in the day, veteran star Dharmendra was spotted casting his vote at the Jamnabai Narsee School in Juhu.

Other stars, including Paresh Rawal, Akshay Kumar, Shahid Kapoor, Sanya Malhotra, Rajkumar Rao, and Janhvi Kapoor, were also seen at various polling booths across the city.

The fifth phase of the elections covers six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai: Mumbai North, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai South, and Mumbai South Central. Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Kalyan, Palghar, Bhiwandi, and Thane are also goiing to the polls in this phase.

Maharashtra, with 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest state in terms of parliamentary constituencies after Uttar Pradesh.

Voting began at 7 am and will continue until 6 pm. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), over 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore males, 4.26 crore females, and 5409 third-gender electors, are eligible to decide the fate of 695 candidates in this crucial phase in which polling is being held on 49 seats.

Prominent leaders who are contesting the fifth phase include Rajnath Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, Chirag Paswan, Omar Abdullah and Rohini Acharya.

The Election Commission has deployed extensive security measures, including 2,000 flying squads, 2105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams, and 502 video viewing teams. These teams are maintaining round-the-clock surveillance across 94,732 polling stations to ensure smooth and secure voting process.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections, being held in seven phases from April 19 to June 1, have seen key contests across states. The results are scheduled to be announced on June 4.