Voting across a total of 72 constituencies spread over nine states is underway in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
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The states where voters are casting their ballots on Monday, 29 April, include Bihar, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Jammu and Kashmir.
In Jammu and Kashmir, voting is taking place in the Kulgam district of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency, where it was spread over three phases.
Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Kanhaiya Kumar and Bharatiya Janata Party’s firebrand leaders Giriraj Singh, Sakshi Maharaj and Congress leaders Milind Deora, Priya Dutt, Urmila Matondkar are all in the fray in the fourth phase.
Voting is being held in:
State-wise list of constituencies voting in Phase 4 on 29 April
Bihar
Five parliamentary constituencies of the total 40 will go to polls in the fourth phase of voting in Bihar.
One of the most interesting battles of this phase will take place in Begusarai, where Union Minister Giriraj Singh, former JNUSU President and CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and RJD’s Tanweer Hassan are locked in a three-way contest.
The five seats voting in Bihar are:
- Darbhanga
- Ujiarpur
- Samastipur (SC)
- Begusarai
- Munger
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh has a total of 27 Lok Sabha constituencies, of which six constituencies will vote in the fourth phase. The remaining 21 constituencies will vote in the next three phases.
The election will be a prestige battle for Chief Minister Kamal Nath of the Congress, who took over the reins of the state only five months back. Moreover, Kamal Nath’s son Nakul Nath will be contesting from Chhindwara, considered the Congress’ stronghold.
The six seats voting in Madhya Pradesh are:
- Sidhi
- Shahdol
- Jabalpur
- Mandla
- Balaghat
- Chhindwara
Maharashtra
The fate of 323 candidates, including Union minister Subhash Bhamre, Congress nominees Milind Deora and Urmila Matondkar, will be decided in the fourth and final phase of polling in Maharashtra covering 17 Lok Sabha constituencies.
From the NCP, its president Sharad Pawar's grand nephew Parth Pawar is making his electoral debut from Maval, while popular Marathi actor Amol Kolhe is the NCP candidate from Shirur.
The 17 seats voting in Maharashtra 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
- Shirur
- Shirdi
In 2014, the BJP had won 8 of these 17 seats, while its ally Shiv Sena bagged the remaining 9.
Odisha
Odisha is expected to witness a triangular battle between the ruling BJD, BJP and Congress in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls scheduled to be held on 29 April.
An intense battle will be witnessed in Kendrapara where BJP National Vice-President Baijayant Panda will lock horns with BJD Rajya Sabha MP and Odia actor Anubhav Mohanty. Congress has repeated its candidate Dharanidhar Nayak from the seat.
The six seats voting in Odisha are:
- Mayurbhanj
- Balasore
- Bhadrak
- Jajpur
- Kendrapara
- Jagatsinghpur
Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, the fourth phase will see traditional seats of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and his predecessor Vasundhara Raje going to the polls.
Gehlot's son, Vaibhav is making his electoral debut from Jodhpur and is pitted against sitting BJP MP and Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Raje's son Dushyant Singh is seeking re-election from Jhalawar-Baran. Raje had also won the constituency five times.
The 13 seats voting in Rajasthan are:
- Tonk-Sawai Madhopur
- Ajmer
- Pali
- Jodhpur
- Barmer
- Jalore
- Udaipur
- Banswara
- Chittorgarh
- Rajsamand
- Bhilwara
- Kota
- Jhalawar-Baran
Uttar Pradesh
The phase four of polling in Uttar Pradesh will see action in central and Bundelkhand region of the state with popular leaders like Sri Prakash Jaiswal in Kanpur, Dimple Yadav in Kannauj and Sakshi Maharaj in Unnao to Jitin Prasada in the fray.
Other than Kannauj, the BJP had won all the 12 seats in 2014 elections.
The 13 seats voting in Uttar Pradesh are:
- Shahjahanpur
- Kheri
- Hardoi
- Misrikh
- Unnao
- Farrukhabad
- Etawah
- Kannauj
- Kanpur
- Akbarpur
- Jalaun
- Jhansi
- Hamirpur
West Bengal
Action in West Bengal moves to the southern part of the state, with eight Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the third phase.
In 2014, the BJP had won only two seats in West Bengal, one of them being Asansol. The party has fielded Babul Supriyo for the second time from the seat, while Trinamool Congress has fielded Moon Moon Sen.
The eight seats voting in West Bengal are:
- Baharampur
- Krishnanagar
- Ranaghat
- Bardhaman Purba
- Burdwan-Durgapur
- Asansol
- Bolpur
- Birbhum
Jharkhand
To retain Chatra, Palamau and Lohardaga Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, going to the polls on 29 April in the fourth phase of the seven-phased 2019 elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is banking heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma, reported PTI.
The three seats voting in Jharkhand are:
- Chatra
- Lohardaga
- Palamau
Jammu and Kashmir
Anantnag is the only constituency that will go to polls in the fourth phase. However, parts of the constituency has already polled in the third phase.
Former Chief Minister and People’s Democratic Party Chief Mehbooba Mufti and Congress’ Ghulam Ahmad Mir are the contenders in Anantnag. Jammu & Kashmir National Conference’s Hasnain Masoodi is also in the fray.
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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