Sixth phase of LS polls today
| Date :12-May-2019 |
NEW DELHI:
THE fate of several Union Ministers including Radha Mohan Singh, Harshvardhan and Maneka Gandhi, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leaders Digvijay Singh and Jyotiraditya Scindia will be decided on Sunday in the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls to be held in 59 constituencies in six States and Delhi. Elections will be held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eights constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand.
Over 10.17 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose among the 979 candidates in fray. The Election Commission has set up over 1.13 lakh polling stations for smooth conduct of polls.The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the BJP which had won 45 of these seats in 2014, with the Trinamool Congress bagging 8, the Congress two and the Samajwadi Party and the LJP one seat each among others. Polling will also be held for Bhopal, Morena, Bhind (SC), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha and Rajgarh seats in Madhya Pradesh.
This will be the third phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh, with the first and second phases having been held on April 29 and May 6. The last phase will be held on May 19. The Bhopal seat will see an interesting fight between senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh and BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur. Guna will seal the fate of AICC General Secretary and Congress candidate Scindia. Union Minister and BJP nominee Narendra Singh Tomar is in the fray from Morena.
In the national capital, voting will be held in all the seven seats. As many as 164 candidates, including 18 women, are in the fray. It is expected to be three-cornered fight involving the BJP, AAP and the Congress. Prominent candidates in the fray include veteran Cong leader Sheila Dikshit, Olympian boxer Vijender Singh, Union Minister Harsh Vardhan, Atishi from AAP and her BJP rival cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir.