Polling for 85 seats
The fate of several political veterans, including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and BJP president Rajnath Singh, will be decided on Thursday in the penultimate round of the five-phase Indian elections in eight states.
A total of 1,315 candidates, including 119 women, are battling it out in the fourth phase of the polls. As many as 94.6 million voters will be eligible to exercise their franchise in 85 constituencies.
The Election Commission has set up 129,103 polling centres, to be overseen by 650,000 officials.
Special mobile polling stations will facilitate voters in the vast desert region of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, the country's largest state.
While polling in Bihar and West Bengal would conclude in this phase, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir still have a round to go. Balloting will be held on a single day in Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab.
The last round of balloting would be held May 13 in the remaining 86 constituencies. The vote count is due May 16.
Image: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani greet each other during a function to mark the birth anniversary of freedom fighter Motilal Nehru, in New Delhi, on Wednesday, May 6, 2009. (Copyright AP. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited.)
Text: IANS
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