Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav in fray as 117 seats go to polls today

New Delhi: Electors across 117 Lok Sabha constituencies would vote in the third phase of polling today.

With the voting spread across 14 states and Union Territories, elections would be wrapped up in all the southern states, including 14 constituencies in Karnataka and 20 in Kerala. Gujarat’s 26 constituencies, where Congress was routed in 2014 parliamentary elections, would also vote on Tuesday. The third phase would witness polling in the most number of constituencies and some of the most highprofile contests. It will decide the fate of BJP president Amit Shah from Gandhinagar and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi from Wayanad in Kerala, his second seat.

The other states that would be voting today include Assam (4 parliamentary constituencies), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Goa(2), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Maharashtra (14), Odisha (6), Uttar Pradesh (10), West Bengal (5), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (1) and Daman and Diu (1).


The third phase of polling for 10 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh is crucial as it will decide the electoral fate of four members of the Samajwadi Party patron Mulayam Singh Yadav’s clan besides those of senior party leader Azam Khan and film actor and BJP candidate Jaya Prada. The three Yadav family members who are seeking reelection respectively from Mainpuri, Badaun and Firozabad in this phase are Mulayam Singh Yadav and his two nephews, Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav. Pitted against Akshay Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, is another brother, Shivpal Yadav, of the party patriarch. Shivpal has fallen out with SP president Aklhilesh Yadav, and is fighting from Fiorozabad after floating a new political outfit, Pragateesheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia).