Voting began on Sunday across 59 Lok Sabha constituenciesspread over seven states, largely in the Hindi heartland, as the sixth andpenultimate round of the mega seven-phase electoral exercise kicked off.
A total electorate of 10.17 crore is eligible to exercisetheir franchise in this phase, which covers 14 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh,eight each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal and four in Jharkhand aswell as all 10 seats of Haryana and seven in Delhi.
Prominent among the 879 candidates in this phase includethree-time Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, who faces state BJP chief ManojTiwari in Delhi North East, Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav from UttarPradesh’s Azamgarh, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijaya Singhagainst BJP’s Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in Bhopal, former cricketer GautamGambhir (BJP) is contesting against AAP’s Atishi in East Delhi and Olympianboxer Vijendra Singh (Congress) is the fray from South Delhi.
Also contesting are Union Ministers Maneka Gandhi, from UP’sSultanpur, Radha Mohan Singh from Bihar’s East Champaran, Harsh Vardhan fromDelhi’s Chandni Chowk and Rao Inderjeet Singh from Gurugram, Congress’ GeneralSecretary (West UP) Jyotiraditya Scindia from Madhya Pradesh’s Guna, formerHaryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda from Sonipat while Bengali filmhero Deepak Adhikari ‘Dev’ (Trinamool Congress) will lock horns with the BJP’sBharati Ghosh, a former IPS officer and once a trusted lieutenant of Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee, in Ghatal.
In this phase, the BJP will be defending 45 seats — sevenof the eight seats in Bihar, eight of 10 in Haryana, all four in Jharkhand,seven of eight in Madhya Pradesh, 12 of 14 in Uttar Pradesh and all seven inDelhi.
BJP’s allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Apna Dal had wonone seat each in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, respectively. The Congress had wontwo seats – Guna and Rohtak – while the Samajwadi Party and the Indian NationalLok Dal (INLD) had won one seat apiece in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana,respectively.
The Trinamool had won all the eight seats going to the pollsin the sixth phase in West Bengal.
The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections started on April 11 andwould conclude on May 19. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.