VOTING will be held in 93 constituencies spread over 11 States and Union Territories on Tuesday in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls, with stakes being high for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which had won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, in the last election. Over 1,300 candidates, including around 120 women, are in the fray. Among the bigwigs are Union Ministers Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and SP Singh Baghel (Agra). With the BJP bagging Surat unopposed, 25 seats in Prime Minister Modi’s home State of Gujarat will go to polls on May 7, besides 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa. The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2 seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were deferred, will also go to polls on Tuesday.

 

Over 11 crore people will be eligible to vote in this phase. Prime Minister Modi and Shah will cast their vote at booths in Ahmedabad city under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat in Gujarat. Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vidisha) and Digvijaya Singh (Rajgarh) have also returned to the Lok Sabha electoral fray this time. A riveting contest is on in Maharashtra’s Baramati between Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar, wife of the veteran leader’s estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. In Uttar Pradesh, the current phase is important for the Mulayam Singh Yadav family, with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav aiming to retain the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat. Dimple Yadav had won the seat in by-polls following the demise of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, the national principal general secretary of SP, will try to reclaim the Firozabad seat, which he had won in 2014. Aditya Yadav, the son of SP national general secretary Shivpal Yadav, is making his electoral debut from the Budaun Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by his cousin Dharmendra Yadav in 2014.

 

The fate of former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and AIUDF Badruddin Ajmal (Dhubri) will also be decided on May 7. After the third phase, voting will be completed in 283 out of 543 seats in Lok Sabha. The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes is on June 4. In West Bengal, the four seats going to polls are Muslim-majority. The division of minority votes among the Left-Congress combine and the TMC and the narrative on the Citizenship Amendment Act could shape the outcome in the intense electoral battle in Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur and Murshidabad.

 

The Murshidabad and Jangipur Lok Sabha seats are held by the Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has renominated its sitting MPs Abu Taher and Bidi baron Khalilur Rehman respectively. The Bharatiya Janata Party has again fielded Khagen Murmu for the Malda Uttar seat against TMC candidate Prasun Banerjee and former Congress MLA Mostaque Alam. In the Malda Dakshin seat, the Congress has fielded Isha Khan Choudhury from the family of ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury. The third phase saw the BJP-led NDA and the I.N.D.I.A. bloc fiercely attacking each other on issues like reservations and sexual harassment charges against JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna. Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the BJP charge, asking the Congress to give in writing that it will not hand over the quota for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes to Muslims.

 

The Congress and its allies accused the BJP of trying to tamper with the Constitution and do away with reservations. The principal opposition party, which has promised to remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations, also asked the BJP to clear its stance on the issue. The BJP leaders targeted the Congress over wealth redistribution and inheritance tax issues and accused it of pursuing appeasement politics, while the Congress reiterated its commitment to conduct a caste census and economic survey if voted to power.