Voting in one of the biggest phases of the current Lok Sabha election will take place in 91 Lok Sabha seats across India on Thursday. People will also simultaneously vote in the Assembly election in Odisha.
The entire state of Kerala with 20 Lok Sabha seats, national capital Delhi with 7 seats, Haryana with 10 seats will also vote in the third phase on April 10. Ten out of total 80 seats in the battle ground state of Uttar Pradesh, entire Vidarbha region with 10 seats in Maharashtra, 10 Lok Sabha seats and 70 assembly seats in the eastern and northern parts of Odisha, 6 seats in southern Bihar, 4 seats in northern and western parts of Jharkhand, one seat each in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep islands, Chandigarh and Jammu & Kashmir and 9 seats in southern and eastern parts of Madhya Pradesh will also be voting.
- 91 LS seats across India including Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep
- 70 Assembly seats in Odisha are also going to polls
Top leaders including the Union ministers Kamal Nath, E Ahamad, Praful Patel, Kapil Sibal, Krishna Tirath, Ajit Singh are in the fray in Thursday's election. The fate of the RLD leader Amar Singh, former national president of the BJP Nitin Gadkari, communist veteran MA Baby, Congress leader PC Chacko, Congress leader from Haryana Naveen Jindal, retired chief of Army General VK Singh, the Congress general secretary Ajay Maken, the AAP leaders Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Ashutosh and Shazia Ilmi will be also be decided in the voting.
'Dream girl'of Hindi cinema Hema Malini, one time hero of Hindi cinema Raj Babbar, one time glamorous actresses Jayaprada and Nagma are trying their luck. Besides these, actor and model Gul Panag and a former actress Navneet Rana are also in the fray.
Delhi
The National Capital Region of Delhi is witnessing a triangular fight between the BJP - AAP and Congress. The AAP is fighting a 'do or die' battle in its bastion of Delhi. Most pre-poll surveys are predicting that the BJP may win more seats than the AAP in Delhi and the Congress a distant third.
In Gurgaon and Ghaziabad, the AAP is engaged in a tough battle with the BJP and the Congress.
Uttar Pradesh:
Ten Lok Sabha seats in Western UP will be voting on April 10. The same region witnessed a major riot 9 months ago. According to ground reports, the BJP is looking formidable in the region and the RLD led by Ajit Singh which dominated the area for a long time is looking nervous.
Bihar:
In Bihar, it is a three-cornered battle between the BJP-Lok Janskati Party-Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, Janata Dal United-Communist Party of India and Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine. The massive mobilisation of forward and intermediary castes in favour of the combine has meant that it is ahead of its rivals in Bihar who are fighting for their political survival.
The star candidates are Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar from Sasaram, and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag Paswan. Another interesting fight is at Nawada which will see BJP leader Giriraj Singh, who reluctantly agreed to contest from the seat after he was denied nomination from Begusarai, take on RJD's Rajballabh Yadav and JDU leader Kaushal Yadav.
Jharkhand:
The battle in Jharkhand has got very complicated with several regional parties in the fray even as the big fight is between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress-Rashtriya Janata Dal alliance. But making it tough for them are regional parties like Jharkhand Vikas Morcha Prajatantrik, All Jharkhand Students Union and Trinamool Congress which have their pockets of influence and a good show by these parties can throw the entire calculation out of the window.
Kerala:
The entire state of Kerala will be voting on Thursday. It has 20 Lok Sabha seats. Pre-poll surveys are predicting a repeat of 2009, in which the Congress-led UDF won 16 of the 20 seats in the state. Union minister Shashi Tharoor is seeking a second term from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Union food minister Prof. KV Thomas of the Congress is facing former secretary to the President of India Christy Fernandes (Left backed Independent) and an international journalist Anita Pratap of the AAP in the Christian dominated Ernakulam LS seat.
Muslim League veteran A Ahamad is trying his luck from Mallappuram. Union minister KC Venugopal of Congress is seeking a re-election from Alapuzha, Union minister of state for Home Mullappalli Ramachandran of the Congress from Kozhikode and Union minister Kodikunnil Suresh of the Congress from Mavelikara are also seeking a re-election.
Haryana:
Haryana with 10 Lok Sabha seats is witnessing a multi-cornered contest in some seats and a triangular fight in rest of the state. The ruling Congress is facing a huge anti-incumbency and a strong BJP-HJC alliance in the state. The INLD of the Chautalas is facing a big crisis as its leader Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala are in jail in a corruption related cases. The BJP-HJC alliance is led by HJC leader Kuldeep Bishnoi.
The Congress sitting MPs Naveen Jindal, Shruti Chaudhury, Ashok Tanwar and Deepender Hooda are also seeking re-election.
The AAP ideologue Prof. Yogendra Yadav is engaged in a tough battle with the BJP and Congress candidates in Gurgaon.
Madhya Pradesh:
Nine seats in the south-eastern and eastern parts of MP are also voting on Thursday. Union minister Kamal Nath is seeking a record 10 term from Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat.
Maharashtra:
The drought hit Vidarbha region in Maharashtra is also voting today. The former national president of the BJP Nitin Gadkari is fighting his first direct election from Nagpur. He is taking on the veteran Congress MP Vilas Muttemwar and Anjali Damania of the AAP.
Union minister and NCP leader Praful Patel is contesting from Bhandara-Gondia and the Congress leader Mukul Wasnik is contesting from Ramtek.
Odisha: Both Assembly and Lok Sabha. It is the first phase in the state.
- In cyclone Phailin hit Ganjam district's Hinjilicut assembly constituency CM- Naveen Patnaik is contesting.
- Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency where the direct contest is between former Union Minister and Congress candidate Chandrasekhar Sahoo and BJD's candidate Siddhant Mohapatra who is an Odia cine star.
- In Naxal infested Koraput Lok Sabha constituency the direct fight is between former Odisha chief minister and veteran congress leader Girdhari Gomango and BJD candidate Jhina Hikaka. Jhina Hikaka was the BJD MLA who was abducted by the naxals in 2012. Gamang's wife Hema Gamang is interestingly contesting in the same Koraput district's Laxmipur assembly constituency on a BJD NOT Congress ticket. Vitually the ex cm and his wife are pitched against each other here though for Lok Sabha and assembly seats respectively.
- In bonded labour issue hit district-Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency there is a triangular fight between the BJD candidate Kalikesh Singhdeo, BJP candidate Sangita Singhdeo and Congeess candidate Sarat Patnaik. This district is famous for the royal family members contesting against each other from different political parties as the district continues to remain one of the poorest district n the country.
Key candidates and seats:
Shashi Tharoor (Congress) vs O Rajagopal (BJP) - Thiruvananthapuram
KV Thomas (Congress) vs Christy Fernandes (Left backed Independent) vs Anita Pratap - Ernakulam
A Ahamad (IUML) - Mallappuram
KC Venugopal (Congress) - Alapuzha
Mullappalli Ramachandran (Congress) - Kozhikode
Kodikunnil Suresh (Congress) - Mavelikara
MB Rajesh (LDF) vs MP Veerendrakumar (UDF)
MA Baby (LDF) vs NK Premachandran of the RSP in Kollam
PC Chacko (Congress) vs Innocent (LDF) - Chalakkudy
Meira Kumar (Congress) - Sasaram
Chirag Paswan (LJP) - Jamui
Vishnu Dayal Ram (BJP) - Palamu
Gul Panag (AAP) vs Kiron Kher (BJP) vs PK Bansal (Congress)
Yogendra Yadav (AAP) vs Rao Inderjit Singh (BJP) - Guragon
Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC) vs Dushyant Chautala (INLD) - Hissar
Deepender Hooda (Congress) - Rohtak
Shruti Chaudhury (Congress) - Bhiwani - Mahendragarh
Naveen Jindal (Congress) - Kurukshetra
Ashok Tanwar (Congress) - Sirsa
Vishnupad Rai (BJP) - Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Lakshadweep (Congress) - Hamdullah Sayeed
Kamal Nath (Congress) - Chhindwara
Nitin Gadkari (BJP) vs Vilas Muttemwar (Congress) - Nagpur
Praful Patel (NCP) - Bhandara - Gondiya
Hansraj Ahir (BJP) - Chandrapur
Navneet Rana (NCP) - Amaravati
Rajmohan Gandhi (AAP) vs Sandeep Dixit (Congress) - East Delhi
Ajay Maken (Congress) vs Meenakshi Lekhi (BJP) - New Delhi
Kapil Sibal (Congress) vs Ashutosh (AAP) vs Harshvardhan (BJP) - Chandni Chowk
Jaya Prada - RLD - Bijnor
Nagma - Congress - Meerut
Ajit Singh - RLD - Bhagpat
Ghaziabad - General VK Singh (BJP) vs Shazia Ilmi (AAP) vs Raj Babbar (Congress)
Odisha - Both Assembly and Lok Sabha:
In cyclone Phailin-hit Ganjam district's Hinjilicut assembly constituency CM- Naveen Patnaik is contesting.
Berhampur Lok Sabha constituency where the direct contest is between former Union Minister and Congress candidate Chandrasekhar Sahoo and BJD's candidate Siddhant Mohapatra who is Odia cine star.
In Naxal infested Koraput, Lok Sabha constituency the direct fight is between former Odisha chief minister and veteran congress leader Girdhari Gomango and BJD candidate Jhina Hikaka. Jhina Hikaka was the BJD MLA who was abducted by the naxals in 2012. Gamang's wife- Hema Gamang is interestingly contesting in the same Koraput district's Laxmipur assembly constituency on a BJD not Congress ticket. Vitually the ex CM and his wife are pitched against each other here though for Lok Sabha and assembly seats respectively.
In bonded labour issue hit district-Bolangir Lok Sabha constituency there is a triangular fight between the BJD candidate Kalikesh Singhdeo, BJP candidate Sangita Singhdeo and Congeess candidate Sarat Patnaik. This district is famous for the royal family members contesting against each other from different political parties as the district continues to remain one of the poorest district n the country.
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