NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The electoral fate of half-a-dozen Union ministers and two former chief ministers will be sealed on Wednesday in the third phase of the general elections is 93 constituencies in 11 states and Union territories. The BJP sees the third phase as one of consolidation as compared to the first two phases.
Prominent among the heavyweight candidates in this phase are Union home minister Amit Shah in Gandhinagar, Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya M Scindia (Guna), former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Digvijaya Singh (Rajgarh), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar)’s Supriya Sule (Baramati), and Adhir Ranjan Choudhary (Berhampur).
In Uttar Pradesh, representatives of the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan are contesting in this phase — Dimple Yadav from Mainpuri, Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, from Firozabad and Aditya Yadav, son of Shivpal Yadav, from Budaun.
In Karnataka, the last of the 14 seats will go to polls in what is being seen as a high-stakes battle for Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. For, most of the seats are in North Karnataka, which is regarded as his home turf. The elections are equally important for former chief minister B S Yediyurappa, whose son Vijayendra is the state BJP president.
Prominent among those in the fray in Karnataka are former CMs Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and Jagadish Shettar (Belgaum), Union ministers Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad) and Bhagwant Khuba (Bidar), Yediyurappa’s son Raghavendra (Shivamogga), and Kharge’s son-in-law Radhakrishna Doddamani (Gulbarga SC).
According to sources, around 30-40 constituencies in the third phase will witness triangular contests, giving sitting Lok Sabha members a really tough time. Most of the sitting MPs are from the ruling BJP.
Phase 3 factoids
93 seats for which polling will be held in 11 states/UTs
1,300 candidates including around 120 women, in the fray
11 crore people eligible to vote
Entire Gujarat and Goa, 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 in UP, 14 in Karnataka, 7 in Chhattisgarh, 5 in Bihar, 4 each in Assam and West Bengal to go to polls