NEW DELHI: The fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, a crucial stage, is scheduled for Monday, May 13, across 96 seats in 10 states. This includes all 25 constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and 17 in Telangana, along with simultaneous assembly polls for 175 seats in AP.
Polling will also take place in 13 seats in UP, 11 in Maharashtra, eight each in MP and Bengal, five in Bihar, four each in Odisha and Jharkhand, and one in J&K.
Prominent candidates in this round include Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj), NCP's Omar Abdullah (Srinagar), Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai) and Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur), Congress's Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Baharampur), Trinamool's Mahua Moitra (Krishnanagar) and Shatrughnan Sinha (Asansol), AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi (Hyderabad), and AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy's younger sister YS Sharmila of Congress (Kadapa).
In UP, tight races are expected, particularly in Kannauj, where SP chief Akhilesh faces BJP's Subrat Pathak, and in Unnao, where BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj is challenged by SP's Annu Tandon, who previously contested unsuccessfully against him as a Congress candidate in 2014 and 2019 after winning the seat in 2009.
Bihar witnesses JD(U) heavyweight Rajiv Ranan alias Lalan Singh competing against RJD's Kumari Anita in Munger, while in Samastipur, the children of two Bihar ministers make their LS poll debuts.
Meanwhile, Shambhavi Choudhary, 25, the youngest candidate in the country, represents Chirag Paswan-led LJP (RV), faces Congress's Sunny Hazari, son of Maheshwar Hazari, a minister in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government.
Maharashtra sees intense battles for 11 constituencies, with candidates such as Union minister Raosaheb Danve (Jalna) and former state minister Pankaja Munde of BJP (Beed) seeking victory. The fate of 298 candidates will be determined in this round, including actor Amol Kolhe of NCP (SP) (Shirur, Pune district) and Sujay Vikhe Patil of BJP (Ahmednagar).
Upon completion of phase 4, polling will be finished in 23 states and Union territories. In the previous elections in 2019, BJP secured 42 out of these 96 seats.
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