Mumbai: Actor-turned-politician Govinda arrived at a polling booth in Mumbai on Monday morning and exercised his franchise during the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections. After casting his vote, Govinda while talking to the media gave an important message to the citizens of the country.

He simply said, “Come out of the house and vote.” He was joined by his son Yashvardhan in the democratic exercise. His wife Sunita too cast her vote and urged everyone to come out and vote.

Notably, in March 2024, Govinda returned to politics after 14 years and joined the Shiv Sena party in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai. Welcoming his entry into the party, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said, “Govinda’s earlier administrative experience will prove useful for the party”.

Speaking on the occasion, an emotional Govinda, who started his acting career in the 1980s and whose films were family entertainers, said that after his first stint in politics from 2004 to 2009, he never thought that he would Will come back to the same area again.

He commented, “I am back (in politics) after 14 years of long ‘vanvas’ (exile).” In 2004, Govind successfully contested the Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket and defeated veteran BJP leader Ram Naik. However, he later resigned from the Congress party.

Meanwhile, voting began at 7 am on Monday and will continue till 6 pm, with people standing in the queue till the closing time still allowed to vote. According to the ECI, over 8.95 crore voters, including 4.69 crore men, 4.26 crore women and 5409 third gender voters, will decide the fate of 695 candidates in the fifth phase of voting. Major contests are being seen in various constituencies in the fifth phase.

Leaders like Rahul Gandhi, BJP leader Rajnath Singh, Smriti Irani, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Piyush Goyal, Ujjwal Nikam, Karan Bhushan Singh, LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan, JKNC chief Omar Abdullah and RJD leader Rohini Acharya are in the fray. . Success. The eight states/UTs where voting is to be held in Phase 5 include Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Of the 49 Lok Sabha seats, 14 are from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, 7 from West Bengal, 5 from Bihar, 3 from Jharkhand, 5 from Odisha and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

To create a peaceful environment for voters, a total of 2,000 flying squads, 2105 static surveillance teams, 881 video surveillance teams and 502 video surveillance teams are keeping round-the-clock surveillance at 94,732 polling stations.