New Delhi, March 31
The stage is set for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections spread over Uttar Pradesh and remaining constituencies in Maharashtra and Bihar and eight other states and the culminating stage of hustings to the Assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa on April 26 as the statutory notifications were promulgated today.

The President sent out the notification under Sub-Section (2) of section 14 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, calling upon the voters of 137 Parliamentary constituencies, spread over 11 states and Union Territories, to elect their representatives in the April 26 polling, to be held from 7 am to 5 pm.

The respective Governors issued notifications for the second phase of Assembly poll to elect a total of 311 MLAs in the three Houses: Andhra Pradesh (147 seats in the 294-member House), Karnataka (104 of 224) and Orissa (70 of 147).

Filing of nominations for all parliamentary seats under phase three began today and will go on till April 7, followed by scrutiny of the papers on April 8 and withdrawal of candidature will be allowed for the next two days, ie until April 10.

Among the candidates seeking a passage to the 14th Lok Sabha in the third of the five-phase showdown in the world’s largest democracy will be Congress President Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh) and her son Rahul Gandhi (Amethi, Uttar Pradesh), Lok Jan Shakti leader Ram Vilas Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Defence Minister George Fernandes ( Muzaffarpur, Bihar), Petroleum Minister Ram Naik (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), film star Govinda (Mumbai North) and NCP leader Sharad Pawar (Baramati, Maharashtra).

Following are the Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls in the third phase:

Uttar Pradesh: Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh, Amethi, Sultanpur, Akbarpur, Faizabad, Bara Banki, Kaiserganj, Bahraich, Balrampur, Gonda, Basti, Domariaganj, Khalilabad, Bansgaon, Gorakhpur, Maharajganj, Padrauna, Deoria, Salempur, Ballia, Ghosi, Azamgarh, Lalganj, Machhlishahr, Jaunpur, Saidpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Robertsganj and Mirzapur;

Maharashtra: Rajapur, Ratnagiri, Kolaba, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North East, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North, Thane, Dahanu, Nashik, Malegaon, Jalna, Aurangabad, Ahmednagar, Kopargaon, Khed, Pune, Baramati, Satara, Karad, Ichalkaranji and Kolhapur;

Orissa: Mayurbhanj, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapara, Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur, Puri, Bhubaneswar and Aska:

Jharkhand: Rajmahal, Dumka, Godda, Ranchi, Jamshedpur, Singhbhum, Khunti and Lohardaga.

Bihar: Bagaha, Bettiah, Motihari, Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj, Chapra, Hajipur, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Sheohar, Madhubani, Jhanjharpur, Darbhanga, Rosera and Samastipur;

Andhra Pradesh: Kakinada, Rajahmundry, Amalapuram, Narasapur, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Tenali, Guntur, Bapatla, Narasaraopet, Ongole, Nellore, Tirupathi, Chittoor, Rajampet, Cuddapah, Hindupur, Anantapur, Kurnool and Nandyal;