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| Voters, mostly belonging to the Muslim community in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, line up to vote at a local polling station. (AFP photo) |
Bengal, Rajasthan lead pre-noon vote rush
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Voters wanting to cast their ballot look at voters lists to find their voting station at a polling station in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. (AFP photo) |
Voters headed to the polling stations on a balmy Thursday morning as the sixth phase of the staggered elections began in 117 constituencies spread across 11 states and a union territory.
The second-largest phase in terms of Lok Sabha seats, Thursday's polls will determine the fate of 2,076 candidates including Union ministers and sitting MPs.As trends started to trickle in, West Bengal took the lead with 40-45% voting till 11am. Rajasthan stood at 28%.
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Women queue to cast their votes at a polling booth in Alwar, Rajasthan. (AFP photo) |
In Mumbai, where polling was under way in six constituencies, unofficial reports put the polling percentage at around 10% polling in the first two hours. Polling is being held in 19 seats in Maharashtra.
In this round of polling, the stakes are very high for the Congress but more for the BJP which is tipped to form the next government under the leadership of its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The Congress had won 36 of 117 seats in 2009, the BJP 26, the DMK 18, the AIADMK 9 and the Samajwadi Party 5.
The focus is on 39 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu where the BJP has struck an alliance with five regional parties, which had got about 20% of votes in 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
BJP prime ministerial nominee Narendra Modi addressed at least seven meetings in Tamil Nadu in this campaign. The saffron party's best showing in Tamil Nadu was four seats in 1999, as junior partner to the DMK.
Tamil Nadu will see voting for all its 39 seats in one go. Chief minister and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa is aiming for a clean sweep, including the Puducherry seat.
This round will also have a bearing on the prime ministerial ambitions of the Jayalalithaa and Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, who is in the fray from bastion Mainpuri.
In fact, in Uttar Pradesh, it is a showcase of heavyweights with Mulayam, his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, Amar Singh and Hema Malini in the fray.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who exercised his franchise in Saifai (Etawah), said the SP was emerging stronger after every phase of polling.
Most pollsters have viewed UP as a three-cornered contest between the BJP, SP and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The Congress will be hoping to prove pollsters wrong. It had won 21 seats from the state in 2009.
The voting process in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh will end with the final tranche of 10 seats. Sushma Swaraj, one of the saffron party's top leaders, is in the fray.
The voting process will also end in Chhattisgarh (7 seats), Assam (6 seats), Rajasthan (5 seats) and Jharkhand (4 seats).
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| A polling officer marks the finger of a woman voter at a polling booth in Gailpur in Alwar, Rajasthan |
In Bihar, polling is being held for 7 seats. The political dynamics of Bihar have changed since the BJP-Janata Dal (United) split. The BJP has managed to seal a pact with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). The big interest, however, is in what kind of impact Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad makes.
In West Bengal, where polling is taking place in 6 seats, President Pranab Mukherjee's son, Abhijit Mukherjee, and Deepa Dasmunshi are among the central figures in the poll ring.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Mehbooba Mufti is the big name in the Anantnag contest in Jammu and Kashmir.
Thursday will see polling coming to end in Assam (six seats), Chhattisgarh (seven seats) and Jharkhand (four seats).
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