Polling for 91 seats
 in 14 states today

Elections to India’s Lok Sabha will move into high gear on Thursday when, in the third phase of polling, nearly 110 million electors in 91 constituencies across in 14 States and Union Territories (UTs) will exercise their franchise.to choose from amongst 1,419 candidates.

Apart from all the 20 seats in Kerala, all seven seats in the national capital of Delhi and all 10 seats in Haryana, voting will also be held on Thursday to decide six of the 40 seats in Bihar, 1 of 11 in Chhattisgarh, one of six in Jammu & Kashmir, four of 14 in Jharkhand, 10 of 48 in Maharashtra, nine of 29 in Madhya Pradesh, 10 of 21 in Orissa, 10 of 80 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 each in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh and Lakshadweep.

The Congress had won 45 of these 91 seats in the last elections in 2009, but the party faces an uphill task this time, with most opinion polls giving a clear edge to the BJP, thanks to a strong anti-incumbency factor, allegations of corruption and a general yearning for change across the country.

Polling will also be held on Thursday for 70 of the 147 seats in the Orissa Legislative Assembly. Prominent candidates in the fray include Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath and Shashi Tharoor (Congress) and Ajit Singh (Rashtriya Lok Dal).

In the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, which sends as many as 80 of the 543 members in the Lok Sabha, the 10 constituencies going to the polls on Thursday include Muzaffarnagar, which was rocked by communal violence last August, Saharanpur, Kairana, Aligarh, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar and Bulandshahar.

Ajit Singh faces former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh of the BJP in Baghpat, while actress-politician Jaya Prada, who joined the RLD recently, is in the contest from Bijnor.

Another actor Raj Babbar of the Congress will take on former Army chief V K Singh of the BJP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Shazia Ilmi in Ghaziabad, while actress Nagma is the Congress candidate from Meerut.

Apart from Sibal, who faces Delhi BJP chief Harsh Vardhan and AAP leader and former journalist Ashutosh in Chandni Chowk in Delhi, other prominent candidates include Union Minister Krishna Tirath, former Union Minister Ajay Maken and sitting MP Sandeep Dikshit, the son of former Delhi Chief Minister and now Kerala Governor Sheila Dikshit.

In Bihar, Kumar is the Congress candidate from Sasaram. Other well-known names in the contest include former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar and Chirag Paswan, son of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan. Besides Nath, prominent candidates in the fray in Madhya Pradesh include former Union Minister Faggan Singh Kulaste of the BJP and state Congress leader Ajay Singh.

In Haryana, industrialist Naveen Jindal, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda, both of the Congress, and Rao Inderjit Singh, who quit the Congress recently to join the BJP, are among those whose electoral fate will be sealed on Thursday.

In the Union Territory of Chandigarh, former union minister Pawan Bansal faces two actresses — Kirron Kher of the BJP and Gul Panag of AAP. Prominent candidates in Orissa include former Chief Ministers Giridhar Gamang and Hemanand Biswal and former Union Ministers Jual Oram (BJP) and Bhakta Charan Das (Congress).

In Maharashtra, the key contestants on Thursday include former BJP President Nitin Gadkari in Nagpur, who is fighting the Lok Sabha elections and hoping to unseat six-time winner and Congress veteran Vilas Muttemwar. The third candidate in the fray there is AAP leader Anjali Damania who had made corruption allegations against Mr Gadkari.

In Bhandara-Gondia, Union Minister Praful Patel of the NCP is seeking re-election, as is former Union Minister Mukul Wasnik of the Congress from Ramtek.

— news@khaleejtimes.com

• India