Lok Sabha Elections 2024 Phase 3: PM Modi, Amit Shah among star voters as 93 seats in the fray

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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In the third phase of Lok Sabha polls on Tuesday (May 7), voting will take place in 93 constituencies across 11 states and Union territories. The stakes are high for the BJP, which secured a majority of these seats in the last election, including all in Gujarat, Karnataka, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh.

Over 1,300 candidates, including approximately 120 women, are competing. Key candidates include Jyotiraditya Scindia (Guna), Mansukh Mandaviya (Porbandar), Parshottam Rupala (Rajkot), Pralhad Joshi (Dharwad), and SP Singh Baghel (Agra). Former Madhya Pradesh chief ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Digvijaya Singh have also returned to the electoral fray.

PM Modi and Shah, who are expected to arrive in Gujarat tonight, will cast their votes at booths in Ahmedabad city under the Gandhinagar Lok Sabha seat. Modi is expected to arrive at 7.30 am to cast his vote at Nishan Higher Secondary School in Ahmedabad. Amit Shah will cast his vote at 9.15 am. Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor, V.K. Saxena, is also scheduled to vote at 10.15 am.

The school has been designated as a polling booth, with preparations for polling arrangements currently underway.

Security measures have been intensified in Gandhinagar ahead of these high-profile visits to ensure the smooth conduct of voting. Authorities are prepared to manage the increased number of voters and maintain law and order during the voting process.

With the BJP bagging Surat unopposed, 25 seats in Prime Minister Modi’s home state of Gujarat will go to polls on May 7. BJP’s Mukesh Dalal has already won from Surat unopposed after the nomination of Congress’ Nilesh Kumbhani was rejected over fortuitous irregularities in the signatures of proposers; at the same time the other candidates withdrew from the race.

The saffron party has historically secured all 26 available seats in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls. However, this time, the Congress is in alliance with the AAP and will contest from 24 seats, while the AAP will contest in two constituencies.

Besides this, 11 seats in Maharashtra, 10 seats in Uttar Pradesh, the remaining 14 of the 28 in Karnataka, seven in Chhattisgarh, five in Bihar, four each in Assam and West Bengal, and all two in Goa will go under polls on Tuesday, May 7.

The Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (two seats) and nine seats in Madhya Pradesh, including Betul where elections were deferred, will also go to polls on Tuesday and over 11 crore people will be eligible to vote.

In Maharashtra, a key contest is unfolding in Baramati between Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule and Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. Uttar Pradesh will see Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav contesting to retain the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat, while Akshaya Yadav aims to reclaim Firozabad.

Dimple Yadav had won the seat in bypolls following the demise of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akshaya Yadav, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, the national principal general secretary of SP, will try to reclaim the Firozabad seat, which he had won in 2014. Aditya Yadav, the son of SP National General Secretary Shivpal Yadav, is making his electoral debut from the Budaun Lok Sabha seat, which was represented by his cousin Dharmendra Yadav in 2014.

The fate of former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai (Haveri) and AIUDF Badruddin Ajmal (Dhubri) will also be decided on May 7. After the third phase, voting will be completed in 283 out of 543 seats in Lok Saba. The next four phases will be on May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1. Counting of votes is on June 4.

In Assam, the BJP has put up only one candidate in this phase for the Guwahati seat, while its alliance partners AGP are contesting in two — Dhubri and Barpeta — and the UPPL in Kokrajhar. The Congress and the Voters Party International (VPI) are fighting in all four seats, while the BPF, the Trinamool Congress, Bharatiya Gana Parishad, SUCI(C) and Republican Party of India (Athawale) are contesting in two each.

The AIUDF, CPI(M), Gana Suraksha Party, Hindu Samaj Party, Asom Jana Morcha, National Road Map Party of India , Rashtriya Ulema Council, Ekam Sanatan Bharat Dal and Bahujan Maha Party are contesting in one seat each, while 16 Independents are also in the fray.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow