The first phase of Lok Sabha elections will begin on 11 April, Thursday, with polling in 91 constituencies of 20 states and Union Territories of the country.
The constituencies where polling will be held include all the seats in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Telangana, Uttarakhand, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Some seats of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Odisha, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will also witness voting in the first phase which will start at 8 am tomorrow and end at 5 pm.
A total of 1285 candidates are in the fray for the 17th Lok Sabha from the 91 constituencies which go to polls on Thursday.
Andhra Pradesh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Aruku, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli, Kakinada, Amalapuram, Rajahmundry, Narsapuram, Eluru, Machilipatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Narasaraopet, Bapatla, Ongole, Nandyal, Kurnool, Anantapur, Hindupur, Kadapa, Nellore, Tirupati, Rajampet and Chittoor.
Number of contenders:
319 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, TDP, YSRC, Jana Sena
Key contests:
Vizianagaram – TDP’s Ashok Gajapathi Raju versus P Sanyasi Raju of BJP versus Yedla Adiraju of Congress
Guntur – TDP’s Jayadev Galla versus Valluru Jayaprakash Narayana of BJP versus Shaik Mastan Vali of Congress
Amalapuram – TDP’s GMC Balayogi versus Ayyaji Vema Manepalli of BJP versus Janga Gowtham of Congress
Arunachal Pradesh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Arunachal West and Arunachal East
Number of contenders:
12 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress
Key contest/s:
Arunachal West – BJP’s Kiren Rijiju versus Nabam Tuki of Congress
Assam
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Tezpur, Kaliabor, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Lakhimpur
Number of contenders:
41 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, AIUDF
Key contest/s:
Kaliabor – Mani Madhab Mahatnta of AGP versus Gaurav Gogoi of Congress
Bihar
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Aurangabad, Gaya, Nawada, Jamui
Number of contenders:
44 candidates
Main parties:
BJP+JD(U)+LJP, Mahagathbandhan of RJD+Congress+others
Key contest/s:
Jamui – Chirag Paswan of LJP versus Bhudev Choudhary of RLSP versus Upendra Ravidas of BSP
Chhattisgarh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Bastar
Number of contenders:
7 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, BSP
Key contest/s:
Bastar – BJP’s Baiduram Kashyap versus Deepak Baij of Congress
Jammu & Kashmir
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Baramulla and Jammu
Number of contenders:
33 candidates
Main parties:
PDP, Congress and JKNC alliance; and JKNPP
Key contest/s:
Baramulla – BJP’s MM War versus Haji Farooq Mir of Congress versus AIP’s Er Rasheed (with Shah Faesal’s support)
Maharashtra
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Wardha , Ramtek, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondiya, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Yavatmal-Washim
Number of contenders:
122 candidates
Main parties:
BJP+Shiv Sena and Congress+NCP
Key contest/s:
Nagpur – BJP’s Nitin Gadkari versus Congress’ Nana Patole
Bhandara-Gondiya – BJP’s Sunil Baburao Mendhe versus Nana Panchbudhe of NCP
Manipur
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Outer Manipur
Number of contenders:
8 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, NPF
Meghalaya
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Shillong, Tura
Number of contenders:
9 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, NPP, UDP
Key contest/s:
Tura – Rikman G Momim of BJP versus Mukul Sangma of Congress
Mizoram
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Mizoram
Number of contenders:
6 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress+ZPM, MNF
Nagaland
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Nagaland
Number of contenders:
4 candidates
Main parties:
NPP, NDPP
Odisha
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Kalahandi, Nabarangpur, Berhampur, Koraput
Number of contenders:
26 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, BJD
Sikkim
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Sikkim
Number of contenders:
11 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, SDF, HSP, SKM
Telangana
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Adilabad, Peddapalle, Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Zahirabad, Medak, Malkajgiri, Secunderabad, Hyderabad, Chevella, Mahbubnagar, Nagarkurnool, Nalgonda, Bhongir, Warangal, Mahabubabad and Khammam
Number of contenders:
443 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, TRS+AIMIM
Key contest/s:
Nizamabad – TRS’ K Kavitha versus BJP’s D Aravind versus Madhu Yashki Goud of Congress versus 178 farmers
Secunderabad – G Kishan Reddy of BJP versus Anjan Kumar Yadav of Congress versus T Sai Kiran Yadav of TRS
Nalgonda – Uttam Kumar Reddy of Congress versus Garlapati Jithender Kumar of BJP
Hyderabad – AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi versus Bhagwanth Rao of BJP versus Firoz Khan of Congress
Khammam – Congress’ Renuka Choudhary versus Vasudev Rao of BJP
Tripura
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Tripura West
Number of contenders:
13 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, CPM
Key contest/s:
Tripura West – Sankar Prasad Datta of CPI(M) versus BJP’s Pratima Bhaumik
Uttarakhand
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Tehri Garhwal, Garhwal, Almora, Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar, Haridwar
Number of contenders:
52 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress
Key contest/s:
Almora – BJP’s Ramesh Pokhriyal versus Ambrish Kumar of Congress
Nainital-Udhamsingh Nagar – BJP’s Ajay Bhatt versus Harish Rawat of Congress
Uttar Pradesh
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar
Number of contenders:
96 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, Alliance BSP-SP-RLD
Key contest/s:
Saharanpur – BJP’s Raghav Lakhanpal versus Congress’ Imran Masood versus SP-BSP-RLD’s Fazlur Rehman
Kairana – Pradeep Choudhary of BJP versus Tabassum Hasan of SP-BSP-RLD
Ghaziabad – BJP’s Vijay Kumar Singh versus Congress’ Dolly Sharma versus Suresh Bansal of SP-BSP-RLD
West Bengal
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Coochbehar, Alipurduars
Number of contenders:
18 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, TMC, Left
Key contest/s:
Alipurduars – BJP’s John Barla versus Mohan Lal Basumata of Congress versus Trinamool’s Dasrath Tirkey
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Number of contenders:
15 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress, TMC
Lakshadweep
Constituency/ies that go to polls:
Lakshadweep
Number of contenders:
6 candidates
Main parties:
BJP, Congress