Election 2019: Fourth phase of voting to commence on April 29

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New Delhi: Over 12.79 crore voters will decide the fate of 945 candidates on 71 Lok Sabha seats spread across nine states during the fourth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha polls on Monday.

As per the election schedule, five seats in Bihar, one in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Jharkhand, six in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha each, 17 in Maharashtra, 13 in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh each, and eight in West Bengal will go to polls during the fourth phase of polling.

Apart from these, 42 Assembly constituencies in Odisha will also go to polls on Monday.

The voting will take place from 7 am to 6 pm for most of the constituencies.

In Bihar, five constituencies -- Darbhanga, Ujiarpur, Samastipur, Begusarai, and Munger will go to polls. A total of sixty-six candidates are in the fray for these five seats. Voting will be held at 8,834 polling stations where around 87,02,313 voters will cast their votes.

All eyes will be on Begusarai seat from where CPI's Kanhaiya Kumar is up against Union Minister Giriraj Singh and RJD's Tanveer Hassan. Several prominent Bollywood personalities including Javed Akhtar, Shabana Azmi, Swara Bhaskar, and Prakash Raj have campaigned for the former JNU Students Union president.

In Jammu and Kashmir, Anantnag Lok Sabha seat will go to polls on Monday. It is to be noted that the election for Anantnag constituency is scheduled to be held in three phases. Polling will be held at 433 polling booths where 3,44,224 people will cast their votes.

In Jharkhand, Rajmahal, Dumka, and Godda seats will go to polls. Here, 59 candidates are in the fray. Polling will be held at 3,013 polling stations where 45,26,693 will exercise their right to franchise.

In Madhya Pradesh, six seats -- Sidhi, Shahdol, Jabalpur, Mandla, Balaghat, and Chhindwara will go to polls where a total of 108 candidates are contesting. Polling will be held at 13,491 polling stations where 1,05,55,689 voters will use exercise their franchise.

Chhindwara will be keenly watched from where Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath's son Nakul Nath is contesting on the Congress ticket. The election is being seen as a test to Chief Minister Kamal Nath's popularity.

Kamal Nath has represented this seat for 40 years before he was appointed the state Chief Minister in December last year.

In Maharashtra, 17 seats will go to polls. These are Nandurbar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Bhiwandi, Kalyan, Thane, Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South, Maval, Shiru, and Shirdi.

Voting will be held at 33,314 polling station where 3,11,92,823 people will decide the fate of 323 candidates.

Mumbai Congress chief Milind Deora, Congress leader Milind Deora and Priya Dutt are some of the high-profile candidates whose fate will be sealed in the EVMs on Monday.

In Odisha, six seats -- Mayurbhanj, Balashore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Kendrapada, and Jagatsinghpur will go to polls. Here, 52 candidates are in the fray. Polling will take place at 10,792 booths and 95,14,883 voters will exercise their franchise.

Former BJD leader and presently BJP vice president Baijayanta Panda is contesting from Kendrapada.

A total of 336 candidates are also contesting from 42 Assembly constituencies.

"Special attention will be given on Kendrapara Lok Sabha constituency and additional police force has been deployed," said Surendra Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Odisha.

In Rajasthan, 13 seats -- Tonk-Sawai Madhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota, and Jhalawar-Baran will go to polls.

Polling will be held at 28,182 polling stations. 115 candidates are in the fray from these 13 seats. A total of 2,57,76,993 voters are expected to cast their votes.

Polls for 13 seats of Uttar Pradesh will also be held on Monday. The seats are -- Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Misrikh, Unnao, Farrukhabad, Etawah, Kannauj, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, and Hamirpur.

Here, the fate of 154 candidates will be decided by 2,38,88,367 voters. Voting will take place at 27,513 polling stations.

Samajwadi Party leader Dimple Yadav who is also the wife of party president Akhilesh Yadav is contesting from Kannauj.

BJP has retained Sakshi Maharaj from Unnao seat.

In West Bengal, eight seats -- Baharampur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bardhaman Purba, Bardhaman-Durgapur, Asansol, Bolpur, and Birbhum are going to polls.

Polling will be held at 15,277 stations. A total of 1,34,56,491 voters will exercise their franchise. The fate of 68 candidates will be sealed in EVMs.

Union Minister Babul Supriyo is contesting from Asansol seat against Trinamool Congress' Moon Moon Sen.

The seven-phased Lok Sabha polls began on April 11. The first phase recorded 69.45 per cent voter turnout across the country. The second phase of polling took place on April 18, which logged 69.43 per cent voting. The third phase of elections held on April 23 witnessed a turnout of 66 per cent.

The counting of votes will be done on May 23.

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