New Delhi: India will witness elections in the maximum number of seats in a single phase on Thursday when polling will be held in 121 seats across 12 states as Lok Sabha elections will cross the half-way mark in more than a month-long exercise.
Nandan Nilekani (Congress), Maneka Gandhi (BJP), former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda (JDS), Union Minister Veerappa Moily (Congress) and Srikant Jena, Supriya Sule and Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti figure among the 1,769 candidates in the fifth of the nine-phased elections.
An electorate of 16.61 crore have the right to exercise their franchise on Thursday.
Of the total seats, Congress has 36 seats while its main challenger BJP has 40 seats. Polling will take place in 28 seats in Karnataka, followed by Rajasthan (20), Maharashtra (19), Uttar Pradesh and Odisha (11 each), Madhya Pradesh (10), Bihar (7), Jharkhand (6), West Bengal (4), Chhattisgarh (3), Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur (1 each).
Karnataka witnessed intense campaign by both national as well as state bigwigs for a sharply bipolar fight. Prominent candidates in the fray include Nandan Nilekani (Congress), former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda (JDS) and Union Minister Veerappa Moily (Congress).
So far polling has been held in 111 constituencies in four phases. In the last substantial round 91 seats went to polls on April 10. Out of 28 seats in Karnataka, BJP has 18 sitting MPs, Congress 8 and JDS 1.
In Maharashtra, 358 candidates including stalwarts like Union Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, BJP leader Gopinath Munde and NCP leaders Supriya Sule and Nilesh Rane will test their electoral fate. Nineteen seats are going for elections in this phase where Congress has 6 sitting MPs, BJP 2, Shiv Sena 4, NCP 3 and SWP 1. There is also an independent MP.
In Bihar, 117 candidates are in the fray including Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her two uncles Ramkripal Yadav and Ranjan Yadav. Out of the seven seats going to poll on Thursday, the JDU has four sitting MPs, BJP and RJD have one each.
In 11 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, over 1.8 crore voters will decide the fate of 151 candidates, including stalwarts like former Union Minister Maneka Gandhi, who is back to her traditional seat Pilibhit on the BJP ticket. In these seats, the SP has four sitting MPs, BJP 2, Congress 1 and BSP and RLD have one each.
In 11 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly seats in Odisha, the fate of 98 candidates, including 11 women would be decided in the Lok Sabha elections. Prominent candidates are Congress stalwart and Union Minister Srikant Jena and former Union Minister Arjun Sethi of BJD.
Six Lok Sabha seats figure in the second phase of polling in Jharkhand. Among the 106 nominees, prominent are Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Karia Munda of BJP as also Jayant Sinha, son of former Union minister Jaswant Sinha, and former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay of the Congress.
The fate of 239 candidates will be decided in Rajasthan. Out of the 20 seats going to poll on Thursday, Congress has 15 sitting MPs while BJP has four.
Four constituencies of West Bengal -- Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar - will also go to poll. All the four seats are held by AIFB, RSP, CPI(M), BJP.
A closely-fought contest is anticipated in the Darjeeling constituency between GJM-backed BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia and Trinamool Congress candidate Baichung Bhutia, the two representing the two sides of a bitter war over statehood for the hills.
In Chhattisgarh, three seats - all held by the ruling BJP will go to poll. An electorate of 45,56,051 will decide the fate of 50 candidates, including five women. 142 candidates will battle it out in Madhya Pradesh for 10 seats.
For the lone seat in Jammu and Kashmir, 14 lakh voters will decide the fate of 18 candidates. In Manipur, eight candidates are in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat.
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