M A I N   N E W S

Big day: Polling for 121 LS seats in 12 states today

Phase 5: Top contenders Ghulam Nabi Azad (Udhampur) Maneka Gandhi (Pilibhit) Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Sahib) Jaswant Singh (Barmer) Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapur) Nandan Nilekani (B’lore South) Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur) Ashok Chavan (Nanded) BS Yeddyurappa (Shimoga) Bhaichung Bhutia (Darjeeling)

New Delhi, April 16
Polling for the fifth and the biggest of the nine phases of the 2014 General Election will take place tomorrow covering 121 seats across 12 states. At least 16.61 crore voters are eligible to choose their representatives from the 1,769 candidates in the fray.

Prominent candidates include: Ghulam Nabi Azad (Udhampur), Maneka Gandhi (Pilibhit), Shatrughan Sinha (Patna Sahib), Jaswant Singh (Barmer), M Veerappa Moily (Chikkaballapur), Ananth Kumar and Nandan Nilekani (Bangalore South), Misha Bharti (Patliputra), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Sushilkumar Shinde (Solapur), Buta Singh (Jalore), Ashok Chavan (Nanded), Gopinath Munde (Beed), Supriya Sule (Baramati), V Balakrishnan (Banglaore Central), BS Yeddyurappa (Shimoga), and SS Ahluwalia and Bhaichung Bhutia (Darjeeling).

Of the 121 seats up for grabs, the Congress currently holds 36, while its challenger BJP has 40 seats.

Polling will take place in Karnataka (28 seats), Rajasthan (20), Maharashtra (19), Uttar Pradesh (11), Odisha (11), Madhya Pradesh (10), Bihar (7), Jharkhand (6), West Bengal (4), Chhattisgarh (3), Jammu and Kashmir (1) and Manipur (1).

Simultaneous polling will be held for 77 of the 147 Assembly seats in Odisha and two Assembly constituencies in West Bengal. The earlier polling in Odisha took place on April 10.

Polling has so far been held in 111 constituencies in four phases. In the last substantial round, 91 seats went to the polls on April 10. — Agencies