Campaigning ends for 121 constituencies in 5th phase of LS poll

New Delhi, 15 Apr: Campaigning for the crucial fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 121 constituencies ended on Tuesday. The 121 constituencies across 12 states will go for voting on April 17. Nandan Nilekani, Jaswant Singh, Shatrughan Sinha, Ananth Kumar and Jyotiraditya Scindia are amongst the big names in the fray.

In West Bengal, Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Alipurduars constituencies will go for elections on April 17, marking the commencement of elections for 42 Lok Sabha seats in the state. A total of 47 candidates are in the fray for the four constituencies, where tough fights are expected in a mainly four-cornered contest.

A total of 60,14,258 voters, of whom 31,14,184 are male and 29,00,024 are female, would get the opportunity to exercise their franchise in this phase of elections for the seats in North Bengal covering the Hills, Terai, Dooars and also the plains in Cooch Behar.

A total of 47 candidates are in the fray for the four constituencies, where tough fights are expected in a mainly four-cornered contest. With none of the major parties willing to give away an inch without fight, a number of top national leaders have campaigned in these constituencies.

While BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressed a huge rally at Siliguri, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi attended a workers' meet in the Dooars.

Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has criss-crossed the constituencies, holding a number of rallies in favour of her party candidates.

Though the TMC has never won any of these North Bengal seats going to polls on April 17, it is banking on the good show of the 2011 Assembly elections and is making an all-out effort to open its account in this area.

In Karnataka, polling will be held across all 28 constituencies and is likely to be mammoth battle with five former chief ministers in the fray. All eyes are on Bangalore South seat where Congress' Nandan Nilekani will take on BJP's five times MP Ananth Kumar and AAP's Neena Kumar. In Bangalore South, AAP has fielded former Infosyian V Balakrishnan.

Campaigning for first phase polls on 20 seats in Rajasthan also came to an end on Tuesday. Over 3.80 crore electors would exercise their franchise in first phase polls to decide the fate of 239 candidates, including 20 each of Congress and BJP, who are in the fray. The focus will be on the Barmer seat where BJP's Colonel Sonaram Chaudhary will take on Jaswant Singh, who is contesting as an independent.

As many as 38,835 polling booths have been set up these 20 constituencies. There are 17 women contestants in the fray of these, six are from Congress, including three sitting MPs and one from BJP. The remaining five seats in Rajasthan will go to polls on April 24.

In Uttar Pradesh, 11 Lok Sabha seats are going to polls on April 17. n this phase more than 1.8 crore electorate would decide the fate of 151 candidates, including stalwarts like former cabinet ministers Maneka Gandhi, Santosh Gangwar, Saleem Sherwani, Dharmendra Yadav and Begum Noor Bano. Maneka, who last time won from Aonla, is back to her traditional seat Pilibhit on BJP ticket. Of the 11 seats for which polling would be held, four were won by SP, three by Congress, and two by BJP in the last Lok Sabha elections in 2009.

The high-octane campaign for the second phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 17 for ten seats in Madhya Pradesh concluded on Tuesday, where heavyweights like Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and state unit BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar are in the fray.

A total of 1,67,12,808 voters, including 8,99,57,33 men, 77,96,647 women and 426 "others" will seal the fate of total 142 nominees. The 10 constituencies going to polls on Thursday are Bhopal, Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho and Rajgarh.

Campaign for the second phase of polling in Maharashtra where nearly 3.25 crore voters will be sealing the fate of 358 candidates including stalwarts like Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and BJP leader Gopinath Munde, came to an end on Tusday. There are 358 candidates in fray, including 24 women and 201 independents. The voters in the second phase include 1,69,54,391 men and 1,53,77,605 women.

In Bihar, loudspeakers fell silent on Tuesday evening with campaigning coming to an end for the second phase voting to seven Lok Sabha seats in Bihar on April 17. Tight security arrangements have been put in place as many of the constituencies fall in Maoist-hit areas.

Voting in Patna and nearby districts would decide the fate of 117 candidates, including actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, former Home Secretary RK Singh, Lalu Prasad's eldest daughter Misa Bharti and her two uncles Ramkripal Yadav and Ranjan Yadav.

Campaigning ended on Tuesday in six Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand for the April 17 polling. The constituencies where polling would be held are Giridih, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Singhbhum ST, Khunti ST and Hazaribagh from among the total 14 LS seats. Among the 106 nominees, prominent candidates were Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Karia Munda of BJP as also Jayant Sinha, son of Jaswant Sinha, former Team India Manager Amitabh Chowdhury of JVM(P), former deputy Chief Minister, Suresh Mahato of AJSU party and former Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay of Congress.

11 Lok Sabha and 77 Assembly seats in Odisha will go to the second and last phase polling for the elections on April 17. The fate of 98 candidates, including 11 women would be decided in the Lok Sabha elections and that of 747 candidates, including 65 women, in the Assembly. Prominent LS candidates are Congress stalwart and union minister Srikant Jena and former Union Minister Arjun Sethi of BJD, besides a host of MPs including Tathagat Satpathy, Baijayant Panda, Pinaki Mishra, Bhatruhari Mahtab (all BJD).

Campaign for the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Manipur for the second of the two seats in the state, Inner Manipur, ended on Tuseday. Chhattisgarh, Goa and Jammu & Kashmir will go to polls for three, two and one seats respectively on April 17.