M A I N   N E W S

Voting for 182 Lok Sabha seats today
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 9
Voting for the final phase of 182 parliamentary constituencies takes place tomorrow in 16 states and Union Territories, amidst predictions of a hung Parliament by opinion and exit polls.

Around 21.5 crore voters would decide the fate of 2132 candidates, including 149 women, could swing the electoral fortunes in favour of one or the other party.

Besides Uttar Pradesh (18), polling will be held in Tamil Nadu (39), West Bengal (42).

Haryana (10), Himachal Pradesh (4), Punjab (13), Kerala (20), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Madhya Pradesh (17), Uttaranchal (5), Delhi (7), Chandigarh (1), Lakshdweep (1), Pondicherry (1), Assam (1) and Sikkim (1).

Elections will also be held for 32-member Sikkim Assembly on Monday.

To witness the way countrymen exercise their franchise, some 50 diplomats from several countries are expected to take a round of polling stations in the Capital and in politically sensitive Uttar Pradesh.

The diplomats have been issued passes by the Election Commission for both polling on May 10 and the counting of votes on May 13 in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.

Important personalities in the fray include:

CHANDIGARH: Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.

DELHI: Union Tourism Minister Jagmohan (BJP) and Delhi Assembly Speaker Ajay Makan (Cong) in New Delhi, BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra (South Delhi), Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma (BJP, Outer Delhi), Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit’s son, Sandeep Dikshit (Cong, East Delhi), Congress Spokesman Kapil Sibal (Chandn Chowk), former Union Minister Jagdish Tytler (Cong) and Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Vijay Goel (BJP) in Delhi Sadar.

HARYANA: Minister of State for Home I D Swami (BJP, Karnal), Industrialist Naveen Jindal (Cong, Kurukshetra), Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s sons Ajay Singh (INLD, Bhiwani) and Abhay Singh (INLD, Kurukshetra), former Chief Ministers Bansi Lal’s son Surinder Singh (HVP, Bhiwani) and Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi (Cong, Bhiwani) and former Union Minister Selja (Cong, Ambala).

JAMMU & KASHMIR: BJP leader Chamanlal Gupta (Udhampur).

PUNJAB: Minister of State for External Affairs Vinod Khanna (BJP, Gurdaspur), Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s wife Preneet Kaur (Cong, Patiala), Akali Dal (Mann) leader Simranjit Singh Mann (Sangrur), Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD, Sangrur) and cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu (BJP, Amritsar).

HIMACHAL PRADESH: Former Chief Minister Shanta Kumar (BJP, Kangra).

Other leading stalwarts and veterans in the race include CPI(M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee, Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha P.M. Sayeed, Mamata Banerjee, B.C. Khanduri, Satyanarain Jatiya, A.B.A. Ghani Khan Chowdhury, Pranab Mukherjee and former Union Ministers P. Chidambaram, Mani Shankar Aiyer, T.R. Baalu, Ajit Singh as also scion of royal family Jyotiraditya Scindia from Guna in Madhya Pradesh.

As part of the poll preparations, the Election Commission has decided to deploy as many as 1,103 companies of paramilitary forces for the last phase of Lok Sabha elections on May 10 to ensure fair and peaceful polling, especially in sensitive and hyper-sensitive booths.

The CRPF, which is the chief coordinating agency monitoring the movements of all Central police forces and state armed forces, has deployed 630 companies.

The BSF has deployed 194 companies, CISF 173, RPF 45, ITBP and Seema Suraksha Bal 25 each and State Armed Police (Gujarat) 11.

In Jammu and Kashmir, the CRPF has posted 282 companies, in Assam 121 companies, Delhi 42, Uttar Pradesh 37, West Bengal 35, Tamil Nadu 27, Madhya Pradesh 20, Haryana and Punjab 15 each, Kerala 10, Chandigarh nine, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Uttaranchal five each, and Pondicherry two.

Elections have been held in 361 constituencies in three phases. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 13 and results are expected same day.