Voting today in Vadodara & Rae Bareli

The fate of the current titans of Indian politics will be sealed in the seventh phase, for which polling will take place on Wednesday. The electorate will vote in 89 constituencies across seven states and two Union Territories, All 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat and 17 Lok Sabha and 119 Assembly seats of the proposed state of Telangana will go to the polls in this phase. All 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab will also go to polls in this phase.
Among the top leaders of different political parties whose fate will be sealed in Wednesday’s voting are Narendra Modi (Vadodara), Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli), L.K. Advani (Gandhinagar), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Murli Manohar Joshi (Kanpur), Arun Jaitley (Amritsar) and Capt. Amarinder Singh (Amritsar).
The seventh phase is crucial for both the Congress and BJP as the two parties hold 35 and 23 seats from this lot in their bags, respectively, in the 15th Lok Sabha.
The stakes are also high for the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab, which has four seats and is facing an uphill task in trying to beat anti-incumbency, while the Congress’ chances looks bright.
The TRS, which spearheaded the campaign for Telangana state, and the Congress, whose government at the Centre cleared the new state proposal, are competing with each other in taking credit for the creation of the state. Prominent among those seeking election are Union minister S. Jaipal Reddy, TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Lok Satta Party president N. Jayaprakash Narayan and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Musli-meen chief Asaduddin Owaisi. The TRS chief, whose dream is to becoming the first chief minister of Telangana state, is also contesting the Assembly election from Gajwel.
In his maiden contest for the Lok Sabha, Mr Modi is in the fray from Vadodara, which is among the 26 seats in Gujarat going to the polls in a single phase Wednesday. He is pitted against Madhusudan Mistry of the 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 elections will be held. Mrs Gandhi is seeking re-election from Rae Bareli, while Rajnath Singh is contesting from Lucknow.
Shifted from Varanasi, senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi is contesting from Kanpur where Union minister and Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal is fighting to retain his seat.
Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is pitted against former state CM Amarinder Singh in a keenly fought electoral battle in Amritsar. Mr Jaitley is fighting his maiden Lok Sabha polls and a victory is likely to propel him to a position of power if the NDA forms the government, while Capt. Singh’s win will revive his political fortunes and he will again emerge as the key Congress leader in the state.
Punjab will also witness a contest between SAD’s Harsimrat Kaur and her brother-in-law Manpreet Badal (Congress) in Bhatinda. While Congress leader Ambika Soni is contesting from Anandpur Sahib, Bollywood star and former Union minister Vinod Khanna is contesting from Gurdaspur. Minister of state for external affairs Preneet Kaur is seeking another term in the Lok Sabha from Patiala.
In Jammu and Kashmir, Srinagar is the sole constituency that will go to the polls. National Conference chief and Union minister Farooq Abdullah is seeking re-election from the seat.
In Bihar, seven constituencies will see voting. Prominent among the candidates are JD(U) president Sharad Yadav from Madhepura and cricketer-turned-BJP-leader Kirti Azad from Darbhanga.
In West Bengal, nine constituencies are going to the polls. Among the candidates are the BJP’s Bappi Lahiri, journalist-turned-politician Chandan Mitra and actor George Baker, who carry the hopes of the party leadership to score big for the first time in the state. Among Trinamul Congress candidates are sitting MPs Satabdi Roy, Kalyan Banerjee and Sultan Ahmed, besides Prasun Banerjee, a former India soccer player.
In the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the BJP is making all-out efforts to retain the two seats.