New Delhi: The high-pitch campaigning for the Phase-3 polling in 93 constituencies of 12 states ended on Sunday, with top political leaders making a last-ditch effort to woo voters. The voting, which will take place on Tuesday, will seal the fate of several high-profile candidates.
1,351 candidates in all
States going to polls on May 7
Gujarat (25) | Karnataka (14) | Maharashtra (11) | Uttar Pradesh (10) | Madhya Pradesh (9) | Chhattisgarh (7) | Bihar (5) | West Bengal (4) | Assam (4) | Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2) | Goa (2)
Key leaders in fray
Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vidisha), Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna) and Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri), Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Dimple Yadav (Mainpuri)
– Polling to end in Goa, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka
The leaders include Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Gandhinagar), former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Vidisha), Union ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna) and Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and Badruddin Ajmal (Dhubri, Assam).
Sitting MP Ajmal, a businessman, is the richest candidate in Assam. He has declared assets worth Rs 155 crore, comprising Rs 28.89 crore of movable and Rs 126.17 crore of immovable assets.
In Maharashtra, sitting MP and veteran leader Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule will have her fate sealed. She is pitted against NCP breakaway faction head Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar.
In UP, the fate of another woman leader, Dimple Yadav, will be sealed on May 7. Dimple is aiming to retain the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, which she won in the bypoll following the demise of her father-in-law and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akshaya Yadav, son of senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, will try to reclaim the Firozabad seat.
Rajveer Singh, son of former UP CM and BJP stalwart Kalyan Singh, is looking forward to making a hat-trick from the Etah constituency.
Voting will be held for two seats in Goa, 26 in Gujarat, seven in Chhattisgarh and 14 in Karnataka. With this, elections in these states will be over. Besides, voting will be held for four seats in Assam, five in Bihar, eight in Madhya Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, four in West Bengal and one in Jammu and Kashmir. The two Lok Sabha seats in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will also go to the polls on Tuesday.
Politicians across party lines were busy campaigning today. While PM Narendra Modi campaigned in Uttar Pradesh, Shah and Rajnath Singh held rallies in Andhra Pradesh and Rahul Gandhi in Telangana. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi led election rallies in Rae Bareli and Amethi.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee campaigned in Bardhaman, Durgapur, Birbhum and Bolpur. Sharad Pawar was in Baramati to support his daughter Supriya.
