NEW DELHI, Apr 28: Polling will be held on Monday for the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha (LS) election in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states.
Voting will take place in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu & Kashmir.
Election in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, where the BJP had cornered all but two of the total 54 seats in 2014, will begin in this phase.
The fate of 961 candidates, including union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, SS Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP, and former union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase.
Among other key contestants in the fray are Kanhaiya Kumar (CPI), Baijayant Panda (BJP), Urmila Matondkar (Congress), Dimple Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Satabdi Roy (TMC) and Milind Deora (Congress).
The Election Commission has set up 1.40 lakh polling booths/stations and has made elaborate security arrangements.
Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between 11 April and 19 May. Election in the Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled following excess use of money power. The results will be declared on 23 May. (PTI)