New Delhi: Leaders of major parties on Tuesday hit the campaign trail for a final bid to woo voters as staggered Lok Sabha elections is set to gather pace under phase 3 polling covering 92 seats spread across 11 states and three union territories on April 10.
Among the key candidates in fray in third phase are Lok Sabha Speaker Meria Kumar seven union ministers including Kapil Sibal, Kamal Nath, Shashi Tharoor (all of Congress), Ajit Singh of RLD and former army chief VK Singh and Harsh Vardhan (both BJP).
Ten of the 80 constituencies in politically key Uttar Pradesh will go to poll on Thursday and they include communally-sensitive and riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Kairana, Aligarh, Bijnor, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautambudh Nagar and Bulandshahar.
With Narendra Modi aide Amit Shah`s controversial "revenge" remarks in Muzaffarnagar having revived secularism-versus-communalism debate in electoral discourse, polling in the ten constituencies is viewed with significance.
Prominent among those contesting in this phase are Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh in his traditional Baghpat constituency, his party colleague-atress Jaya Prada in Bijnor, film stars Nagma and Raj Babbar of Congress in Meerut and Ghaziabad, AAP`s Shazia Illmi and BJP`s V K Singh, former army chief, in Ghaziabad, former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh (BJP) in Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar riot accused Kadir Rana (BSP) in Muzaffarnagar.
The high-octane campaign for the seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi also winded down for an absorbing showdown between Congress, BJP and new-entrant AAP.
An estimated 1.27 crore voters will decided the fates of a total of 150 candidates including Congress` union minister Kapil Sibal, former union minister Ajay Maken, Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan, former DPCC chief J P Agarwal and Sandeep Dikshit, son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and BJP`s Meenakshi Lekhi and singer Manoj Tiwari.
Another important state going to poll on April 10 is Bihar where six of the total of 40 seats will be decided including Sasaram where Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is seeking another victory.
In the wake of three-cornered contest in almost all 40 seats in Bihar, every seat willl count and voting for six seats could show which way the wind is blowing in the state.
Other important leaders in fray tomorrow in Bihar include former Kerala Governor Nikhil Kumar and Chirag Paswan, actor-turned politician son of LJP President Ramvilas Paswan.
Kerala will witness a one-day polling to all its 20 seats where ruling Congress-led UDF and opposition CPI(M)-led LDF are locked in a fierce combat.
Among the key candidates in fray are six Union Ministers --Shashi Tharoor, Kodikunnil Suresh, KC Venugopal, KV Thomas, Mullapally Ramachandran, PC Chacko (all Congress) and E Ahamed (IUML) and former Union Minister MP Veerendrakumar.
