In the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 30 voting will take place across 89 seats in seven states and two Union Territories. All 26 seats in Gujarat, 13 in Punjab and 17 in Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh will be voting along with 46 other constituencies. A total of 1,295 candidates are in the fray and their fates will be decided by 13,96,04,510 eligible voters.
The seventh phase of Lok Sabha voting will determine the fate of top candidates like Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, LK Advani and Rajnath Singh. Also in the fray are other key figures like Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharti, Arun Jaitley, Captain Amarinder Singh, K Chandrashekhara Rao, S Jaipala Reddy, Ambica Soni, Dr Farooq Abdullah, Jitin Prasada, Shankar Sinh Vaghela and Sharad Yadav.
In this phase all eyes are on BJP's PM nominee Narendra Modi's home state of Gujarat. Modi himself is contesting from Vadodara (besides Varanasi in UP which goes to polls on May 12). According to ground reports Modi's victory from Vadodara is a foregone conclusion. The only thing to be decided on voting day is his victory margin over the Congress candidate Madhusudhan Mistry.
Modi followers believe that he will win by the highest margin in the entire country. But, the Congress claims that they are hallucinating.
BJP patriarch LK Advani who 'reluctantly' gave up his claim over the PM candidate is seeking re-election from Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat. Perhaps, it is his last direct election.
The Gujarat BJP is hoping that Advani will win by a huge margin. Advani has campaigned extensively in the constituency.
Senior Congress leader and former chief minister Shanker Sinh Vaghela is contesting from Sabarkantha in north Gujarat. He is likely to beat the Modi wave in his seat. Three other Congress leaders Dinsha Patel, Bharat Sinh Solanki and Tushar Patel are also giving a tough fight to the BJP, which is hoping to sweep the state.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is seeking a third straight term from family pocket borough of Rae Bareli. Local reports suggest that Sonia Gandhi is on a strong wicket and she can also register yet another easy victory.
BJP President Rajnath Singh is not so lucky. He is contesting from Lucknow, the capital Uttar Pradesh and is facing a tough fight. Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi is confident of trouncing the BJP chief. She claims that the situation in Lucknow is favouring her. The Congress thinks that a consolidation of Brahmin and Muslim votes can help her in a big way.
Rajnath Singh is relying heavily on former PM AB Vajpayee's legacy. The ailing former PM Vajpayee's persona still looms large over Lucknow, which he won 5 times in the past. The Congress has roped in his niece Karuna Shukla to attack the BJP.
The AAP has fielded actor Javed Jaffrey from Lucknow.
In neighbouring Kanpur, former BJP chief Dr Murli Manohar Joshi is taking on Union minister Sriprakash Jaiswal of alleged coal scam. Ground reports suggest that the fight is tough in Kanpur.
One time firebrand leader of the BJP Uma Bharti is contesting from Jhansi. Union minister Jitin Prasada is seeking re-election from Dhauhrahra.
Punjab
Punjab is witnessing a big battle with no big wave this time. The holiest place of the Sikhs Amritsar is the most keenly watched seat. The BJP's 'spin' doctor Arun Jaitley is contesting his first direct election from Amritsar. The Congress has fielded a formidable candidate former chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh against him. Jaitley is facing a very tough election.
Another senior Congress leader Ambica Soni is contesting from Anandpur Sahib. In Bhathinda, Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal is taking on her husband's cousin Manpreet Badal of the Punjab People's Party (PPP) which has forged an alliance with the Congress. In Patiala, sitting MP and union minister Preneet Kaur is taking on Deepinder Singh Dhillon of the SAD.
Bollywood star Vinod Khanna is contesting from Gurdaspur. The AAP is hoping to make a big impact in Punjab. Its candidate H S Phoolka is giving a tough fight to both the Congress and the SAD in Ludhiana.
Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats.
Telangana
India's newest state Telangana is voting for both Assembly and Lok Sabha election. The new state will officially come into existence on June 2 and it will be last election for the undivided Andhra Pradesh.
In Telangana, the creation of the new state is the only major electoral issue. The Telangana passions are still running high and the TRS which led the fight for a separate state is hoping that the grateful populace will vote for the party. The Congress is seeking votes for fulfilling the promise.
The main fight is between the TRS and the Congress. The TDP-BJP alliance and the YSRCP are also in the fray.
TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao is contesting in both assembly and Lok Sabha election. He is contesting from Medak Lok Sabha seat and Gajwel assembly seat. His daughter K Kavitha is making her electoral debut from Nizamabad Lok Sabha seat.
The Congress veteran S Jaipala Reddy is contesting from Mahbubnagar Lok Sabha seat. The MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi is seeking a third straight term from Hyderabad.
The BJP has fielded its only famous face Bandaru Dattathreya from Secundarabad.
Bihar:
The seven seats where voters will exercise their franchise are in the Mithilanchal and Kosi belt of the state. This is an area that faces massive floods in the monsoon season due to the presence of a large number of rivers.
This round is extremely crucial for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as not only the JDU President Sharad Yadav is in the fray from Madhepura once again but out of the seven seats, the party won five in 2009 while its former ally the Bharatiya Janata Party had bagged the other two.
But with the JDU-BJP alliance over and a strong Rashtriya Janata Dal-Congress-National Congress Party alliance making a comeback, the dynamics have changed drastically. Buoyed by large number of people at his rallies, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, too, expects a good show while the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking on his development agenda and the Narendra Modi wave which has seen the consolidation of forward castes in its favour.
West Bengal
In West Bengal the seats where voting will take place are Howrah, Hooghly, Serampore, Bolpur, Arambagh, Burdwan East, Burdwan-Durgapur, Birbhum and Uluberia.
There are 87 candidates in nine constituencies with the prminent ones being Trinamool Congress's Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Sultan Ahmed and Prasun
Banerjee. BJP's Bappi Lahiri, journalist-turned politician Chandan Mitra and actor George Baker are also in the fray.
Jammu & Kashmir
Former chief minister Dr Farooq Abdullah is defending his seat Srinagar. The main opposition PDP claims that it will defeat Dr Abdullah this time. For the first time in decades, Farooq Abdullah has campaigned extensively across Srinagar constituency.
Key candidates:
Narendra Modi - Vadodara
Sonia Gandhi - Rae Bareli
LK Advani - Gandhinagar
Rajnath Singh - Lucknow
Rita Bahuguna Joshi - Lucknow
MM Joshi - Kanpur
Sri Prakash Jaiswal - Kanpur
Arun Jaitley - Amritsar
Captain Amarinder Singh - Amritsar
Uma Bharti - Jhansi
K Chandrashekhar Rao - Medak
S Jaipala Reddy - Mahboobnagar
Asaduddin Owaisi - Hyderabad
Sharad Yadav - Madhepura
Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav - Madhepura
Kirti Jha Azad - Darbhanga
Chandan Mitra - Hoogly
Bappi Lahiri - Serampore
Key facts:
Telangana (AP)
Male voters 14382661
Female voters 13781276
Others voters 2329
Service voters 7787
NRI voters 03
Total voters - 28174056
Total seats - 17
General: 12
SC: 03
ST: 02
Total Number of Candidates - 265
Independents - 101
Female Candidates - 12
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Malkajigiri
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - Adilabad
Gujarat
Male voters 21210291
Female voters 19368001
Others voters 285
Service voters 24527
NRI voters 07
Total voters 40603111
Total LS Seats - 26
General: 20
SC: 02
ST: 04
Total number of candidates - 334
Independents - 158
Female - 16
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Navsari (1764411 Electors)
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - Dahod (ST) (1411221 Electors)
Number of Polling Personnel - 234011
Number of Polling stations - 45380
Control Units - 52187
Ballot Units - 62407
Punjab
Male voters 10266743
Female voters 9260371
Service voters 80894
NRI voters 169
Total voters 19608177
Total number LS seats - 13
General: 09
SC: 04
Total Number candidates - 253
Female - 20
Independents - 118
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Patiala
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - Fatehgarh Sahib
Total number of polling stations - 22022
Control Units - 23192
Ballot Units - 40087
Uttar Pradesh
Male voters 13437950
Female voters 11240739
Others voters 893
Service voters 14452
Total voters 24694034
Total number of LS seats voting - 14
General: 11
SC: 03
Total number of candidates - 233
Female - 39
Independents - 60
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Unnao (2164392 Electors)
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - PC No. 30 Sitapur (1550263 Electors)
Total number of polling personnel deployed - 109641
Total number of Polling stations - 25380
Control Units - 27019
Ballot Units - 38397
Bihar
Male - 5845522
Female - 5196236
Others - 285
Total - 11042043
Total LS seats voting - 7
General: 06
SC: 01
Total number candidates - 94
Female - 5
Independents - 24
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Begusarai (1741045 Electors)
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - Samastipur (1467997 Electors)
Polling personnel deployed - 58215
Total number of polling stations - 10157
Control Units - 10157
Ballot Units - 11643
West Bengal
Male voters 7261505
Female voters 6681484
Others voters 74
Service voters 14315
NRI voters 03
Total voters 13957381
Total LS seats voting - 9
General: 06
SC: 03
Total number of candidates - 87
Female - 13
Independents - 14
Largest LS seat (voter wise) - Hooghly (1628169 Electors)
Smallest LS seat (voter wise) - Uluberia (1487946 Electors)
Number of polling stations - 17332
Control Units - 17332
Ballot Units - 17332
Jammu and Kashmir
Male voters 631267
Female voters 575644
Others voters 08
Service voters 274
Total voters 1207193
Total LS seats voting - 01
Total number of Candidates - 14
Total Number of Female candidates - 01
No. of Polling Personnel deployed (approx) - 6942
No. of Polling Stations - 1546
Number of EVMs to be used in the elections
Control Units - 1546
Ballot Units - 1546
Dadra & Nagar Haveli
Male voters 112822
Female voters 94616
Service - 20
Total - 207458
Total number of candidates - 11
Female - 1
Independents - 3
Polling stations - 163
Daman & Diu
Male voters 55455
Female voters 55583
Service voters 10
NRI voters 09
Total voters 111057
Total number of candidates - 4
Number of polling stations - 119
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