Fate of 89 MPs to be sealed today

New Delhi: The whole of Gujarat and Punjab goes to polls on Wednesday in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha elections along with some seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that will decide the fate of top guns including Narendra Modi, Sonia Gandhi, L K Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi. Telangana, the new State-to-be, will also elect its first assembly along with representatives to Parliament when elections will be held in 119 Assembly constituencies and 17 Lok Sabha seats in that part of Andhra Pradesh. A total of 13.83 crore voters have the right to vote in the polls in seven States and two union territories that will in all elect 89 MPs. Elections are already over in 349 constituencies in the first six phases.

Yet again, Congress and BJP have big stakes in Wednesday’s elections with 35 and 23 seats in their bag respectively which were won in the last elections. Stakes are also high for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab which has four seats and is locked in a bitter contest with Congress. TRS, which spearheaded the campaign for Telangana state, and Congress, whose government at the Centre cleared the new State proposal, are said to be involved in a hard-fought contest over credit for the new State. TRS has two Lok Sabha seats while TDP has two from the region. JD (U) and Trinamool Congress have five seats each in the constituencies, while CPI (M) has four.

Modi is seeking to make his debut in Lok Sabha by contesting from Vadodara, which is among the 26 seats in Gujarat going to polls in a single phase on Wednesday. He is pitted against Madhusudan Mistry of Congress. BJP veteran L K Advani is seeking re-election from Gandhinagar in Gujarat. Rae Bareli, the pocket borough of the Gandhis, Lucknow and Kanpur are among the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh where election will be held.

While Congress president Sonia Gandhi is seeking re-election from Rae Bareli, BJP chief Rajnath Singh from Lucknow. He is pitted against former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna and AAP's Javed Jaffrey. Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi is contesting from Kanpur against incumbent where Union minister and Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal. Punjab will also witness polling in a single phase with BJP leader Arun Jaitley pitted against former state Chief Minister Amarinder Singh in the keenly fought electoral battle in Amritsar.