The fourth phase of national elections begin today with 12 states going to the polls.
Polling will take place in 28 seats in Karnataka, 20 in Rajasthan, 19 in Maharashtra, 11 each in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 10 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 in Bihar, six in Jharkhand, 4 in West Bengal, 3 in Chhattisgarh and 1 each in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.
Together there will be over 1769 candidates who will be contesting in this phase of polling.
Among the more important candidates fighting today's elections are Baijayant Panda, Pinaki Misra, Nandan Nilekani, BS Yeddyurappa, Ashok Chavan, Gopinath Munde, Sushilkumar Shinde Jayant Sinha (Jaswant Sinha's son), Veerappa Moily, Sadanand Gowda, Supriya Sule, Nilesh and Rane amongst others.
In Karnataka, the BJP is looking to make a comeback after its embarrassing loss in the Assembly elections where they were routed. To aide the party’s sinking fortunes in the southern state, Narendra Modi launched a blitzkrieg of political rallies that seemed to have helped shore up support for the party in the state, but recent developments, including the inclusion of B Yeddurappa and Sriramulu has been contentious for the party.
In Maharashtra, about 3,24,27,558 individuals will be eligible to vote. The BJP here has tied up with the Shiv Sena the Republican Party of India and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna. The party has also made overtures with the Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. There is expected to be a stiff fight between the Shiv Sena and the MNS. Mumbai will not go to polls until the 24th of April.
In Odisha there will be both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls occurring simultaneously, with elections on for 11 Parliamentary seats and 77 Assembly constituencies. Besides the ruling Biju Janata Dal, AAP, Odisha Janmorcha (OJM), Ama Odisha Party, Samata Kranti Dal, BSP, JMM and Trinamool Congress are also contesting the Assembly elections.
In West Bengal, while the Trinamool Congress is expected to win most seats, the BJP believes there is a wave and has decided to contest from all 42 seats. Among the more interesting candidates that the BJP has fielded here is director and singer Bappi Lahiri, magician P C Sorkar, singer Babul Supriyo, actor George Baker. During the fifth phase, four seats will be going to polls, these being Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar.
In Manipur the second and last phase of the Lok Sabha election tomorrow in the Inner Manipur constituency will be held tomorrow, where eight candidates are in the fray. The Congress has held the seat for 10 years now and it'll will have to be seen if the Congress can hold onto the seat any longer?
In Bihar, 7 seats will be going to the polls with 3 of Lalu Prasad Yadav's close relatives in the fray. Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti will be contesting along with her uncles Ramkripal Yadav and Ranjan Yadav.
In Chattisgarh, three seats will be going to the polls. All three seats are currently held by the BJP and these polls will be a test of confidence of Raman Singh's governance
In Kashmir, 18 candidates are fighting it out for the lone seat that goes to polls tomorrow. Atleast 14 lakh electorates are eligible to vote. While elections for the Jammu seat were largely peaceful, there are threat concerns for the elections in Kashmir.
In Uttar Pradesh, 151 candidates will contest the elections for 11 Lok Sabha seats with over 1.8 crores deciding who will represent them. Among the big names is former Union minister Maneka Gandhi, who is back to her traditional seat in Pilibhit with a BJP ticket. Of the 11 seats, SP has 4 sitting MPs, BJP 2, Congress BSP and RLD have one each.
In Madhya Pradesh, 142 candidates will be contesting for the 10 seats that go to the polls today. .
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