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Elections 2019 Phase 6: Voting Begins In Delhi And 6 States, 979 Candidates In Fray Today

Sheila Dikshit, Akhilesh Yadav, Maneka Gandhi and Atishi are some of the key candidates in this phase. 59 constituencies across six states and Delhi are going to polls.
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The sixth phase of voting in the 2019 general elections will see 59 Lok Sabha constituencies across 6 states and Delhi head to polls. Over 10 crore voters will decide the fate of 979 candidates.

Over 1 lakh and 13 thousand polling stations have been put in place for smooth conduct of polls.

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.

All constituencies of Haryana and NCT of Delhi will vote in one go on Sunday. Polling will begin at 7 am on 12 May and it is scheduled to go on till 6 pm.

Delhi

As many as 164 candidates, including 18 women, are in the fray in for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi. It is expected to be three-cornered fight involving the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress in all the seats.

The Congress is looking to bounce back after ending up at the third spot in the 2014 elections.

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BJP’s incumbent MP Manoj Tiwari is up against Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit for the North East Delhi seat and has already said that her entry has made the poll contest “one of the most interesting in the country”. AAP’s Dilip Pandey is also in the fray from the seat.

Other prominent candidates in the race include Olympian boxer Vijender Singh, who is making his electoral debut from South Delhi, Union minister Harsh Vardhan from Chandni Chowk, and cricketer-turned-politician Gautam Gambhir.

BJP’s incumbent MP Meenakshi Lekhi is up against Congress’ Ajay Maken in New Delhi. AAP’s Atishi is locked in a closely watched contest with Gambhir in East Delhi.

Uttar Pradesh

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and Union minister Maneka Gandhi are among key contestants in the second-last phase of polling in 14 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Polling will be held in Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkarnagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabirnagar, Lalganj, Jaunpur, Machchlishahr, Bhadohi and Azamgarh constituencies in Purvanchal region of the state.

The BJP had won 13 of these 14 constituencies in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The only exception was Azamgarh, won then by Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.

However, the BJP had to bite the dust in the bypolls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur constituencies last year. While, the anti-BJP alliance would like to retain its grip over both the seats, the saffron party is looking to wrest them from the opposition.

In Azamgarh this time, Akhilesh Yadav is trying to retain his father’s seat against Bhojpuri film star Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ of the BJP.

Sultanpur too is seeing an interesting contest as the BJP has fielded Maneka Gandhi for the seat won by her son Varun Gandhi in 2014. She faces Chandra Bhadra Singh of the BSP and Sanjay Singh of the Congress, who was the Sultanpur MP from 2009-14.

Bihar

Four sitting MPs, including a member of the Narendra Modi cabinet, are among the 127 candidates whose electoral fortunes will be decided by 1.38 crore voters.

Amid tight security, polling will be held in eight Lok Sabha seats — Sheohar, Valmiki Nagar, Pashchimi Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Siwan, Gopalganj, Maharajganj and Vaishali.

The NDA had won all eight seats in 2014 — seven bagged by the BJP, while one, Vaishali, was grabbed by Ram Vilas Paswan’s LJP.

The BJP has given up three of its sitting seats — Valmiki Nagar, Siwan and Gopalganj — in favour of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), which returned to the NDA fold in 2017.

Among the key candidates is Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, who seeks to retain Purvi Champaran, a seat he has represented five times. The 69-year-old BJP veteran is locked in a virtually straight contest with RLSP’s greenhorn Akash Singh.

Jharkhand

Jharkhand minister Chandraprakash Choudhary, former cricketer Kirti Azad and ex-chief minister Madhu Koda’s wife Gita are among the 67 candidates in fray for this phase of polls.

Polling will be held between 7 am and 4 pm in four Lok Sabha constituencies — Dhanbad, Giridih, Jamshedpur and Singhbhum (ST) — all won by the BJP in 2014.

West Bengal

Eight Lok Sabha constituencies spread across five districts in West Bengal will go to polls in the sixth phase of general elections on Sunday.

The ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP, the Congress and the Left Front constituents — the CPI(M), the CPI and the AIFB — are the main contenders in the eight seats, where the fate of 83 candidates will be decided by the electorate.

In this phase, polling will be held in Jangal Mahal — the forested region of Bankura, West Midnapore, Jhargram and Purulia districts, which used to be a Maoist hotbed, during the erstwhile Left Front government.

Haryana

Union ministers Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar are among the 223 candidates contesting in the sixth phase of polls for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana.

Prominent candidates include Union ministers of State Rao Inderjit Singh (Gurgaon) and Krishan Pal Gurjar (Faridabad), both of whom are seeking re-election.

Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, a sitting MLA of the Congress from Rohtak district, is once again trying his luck to enter the lower House, this time from Sonipat.

Madhya Pradesh

Eight seats in Madhya Pradesh are going to polls — Bhopal, Morena, Bhind (SC), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha and Rajgarh. This will be the third phase of polling in Madhya Pradesh, with the first and second phases having been held on 29 April and 6 May. The last phase will be held on 19 May.

The Bhopal seat will see an interesting fight between senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and BJP nominee Pragya Singh Thakur.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.