7th phase of LS polls today

89 Lok Sabha seats spread over 7 states and two union territories will go to polls in the 7th Phase on Wednesday. These include all 26 seats in Gujarat, and all 13 in Punjab; 17 seats in Andhra Pradesh, 14 in U.P., 9 in W. Bengal and 7 in Bihar Campaigning ended on Monday evening for the seventh phase of the nine-phase Lok Sabha election. The fate of many stalwarts like
Sonia Gandhi, Narendra Modi, L K Advani and Rajnath Singh will be decided on April 30 in the seventh phase of Lok Sabha election in 89 seats, where the high-decibel campaign marked by vicious personal attacks by leaders ended today.
The seventh lap of the nine-phase elections covers constituencies in seven states, including all seats in Gujarat (26), Telangana (17) and Punjab (13), and 2 Union Territories, with over 1,000 candidates in the fray .
Gandhi’s Rae Bareli constituency, which saw Priyanka Gandhi taking up the cudgels on her mother’s behalf, Modi’s Vadodara constituency, Gandhinagar where Advani is contesting, and Singh’s Lucknow seat are among those going to polls on Wednesday.
Other prominent leaders in the fray are Union Minister Farooq Abdullah from Srinagar, BJP’s Murli Manohar Joshi and Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal from Kanpur, JD(U) President Sharad Yadav from Madhepura.
Uma Bharti and Union Minister Pradeep Jain Aditya are contesting from Jhansi, Union Minister Jitin Prasada from Dhaurahra and chairman of National SC Commission P L Punia from Barabanki.
Modi spearheaded the BJP campaign blitzkrieg, attacking Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on the issue of development, corruption and raking up her son-in-law Robert Vadra’s land deals. Sonia Gandhi and Rahul led the Congress offencive, accusing Modi and BJP of being divisive and communal and against the “very idea of India”.
Rahul raked up the issue of Modi’s alleged links to Adani group while Priyanka, who is campaigning in Amethi and Rae Bareli, took on BJP for targeting her husband, saying the party was “scurrying like panic-stricken rats”.
The 89 Lok Sabha constituencies that will witness polling include 11 in Uttar Pradesh, seven in Bihar, 9 in West Bengal and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.