From left: Bhaichung Bhutia, Nandan Nilekani and Misa Bharti
New Delhi:
121 constituencies across 12 states and union territories are voting today in the fifth and biggest round of India's nine-phase national election.
Former corporate Nandan Nilekani, several union ministers and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are among the 1,769 candidates in this round.
Here is a look at the most high profile battles:
In Bihar's Pataliputra, Lalu Yadav's oldest daughter Misa Bharti is fighting her first election against the BJP's Ram Kirpal Yadav, a man she refers to as 'chacha' (uncle). Ram Kirpal Yadav, once a close aide of Lalu Yadav, quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal after being denied a ticket to contest from this constituency. Janata Dal (United)'s Ranjan Yadav, who is the sitting MP, is also an old RJD hand. (India Votes: full coverage)
In Patna Saheb, also in Bihar, BJP's Shatrughan Sinha is facing a challenge from within. A section of BJP workers have been protesting against his candidature, complaining that he neglected the constituency.
In Bihar's Arrah, former union home secretary RK Singh is contesting as a BJP candidate. He faces a stiff challenge from the RJD's Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha. (Read: top 10 heavyweights in phase 5)
In neighbouring Jharkhand, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha's son Jayant is debuting from the Hazaribagh constituency. His rival is another young candidate, Saurabh Narayan Singh of the Congress.
One of the most watched contests in tomorrow's round of polling is in Bangalore South, where Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is the Congress candidate against the BJP's Ananth Kumar. Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded child rights activist Nina Nayak. (India Votes 2014: Schedule)
BJP candidates BS Yeddyurappa in Shimoga and B Sriramulu in Bellary have been under scrutiny for corruption. Mr Sriramulu was taken back into the party recently despite senior leader Sushma Swaraj's objections.
In Rajasthan's Barmer constituency, it is a prestige battle for BJP veteran Jaswant Singh, who was expelled from the party for contesting as an independent candidate after the party chose to field Congress import Sonaram Chowdhury.
The Jaipur Rural seat will see an interesting battle between Olympian Rajyavardhan Rathore, who is running for Parliament as a BJP candidate, and Congress veteran CP Joshi. (India Votes 2014: Candidates)
Guna in Madhya Pradesh will see Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia facing a tough challenge from BJP's Jaibhan Singh Pavaiya, a former chief of the Bajrang Dal, a fringe group linked to the BJP's ideological mentor Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
In West Bengal, former football player Bhaichung Bhutia is contesting as the Trinamool Congress candidate in Darjeeling. His main rival is SS Ahluwalia of the BJP.
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