Lok Sabha Election 2019: Voting for Phase 3-What Makes Phase 3 Biggest Of Lok Sabha Polls: Your 5-Point Guide

Lok Sabha Election 2019 3rd Phase: What Makes Phase 3 Biggest Of Lok Sabha Polls: Your 5-Point Guide

Phase 3 Election 2019: Major contests will unfold in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar

Highlights

18 crore-plus people, nearly thrice of UK's population, eligible to vote
All 26 seats of Gujarat and all 20 seats of Kerala are polling
Rahul Gandhi, Amit Shah, Mulayam Singh Yadav among star contestants

New Delhi: With today's third round of voting, India's seven-part elections are hitting Prime Time. Rahul Gandhi and Amit Shah - bosses of two of the largest parties going up against each other - will be on the ballot today, besides a slew of heavyweights. More than 18 crore voters - nearly three times the population of the UK - in 13 states and two union territories, including all of Gujarat, Kerala and half of Karnataka, will line up to decide their fate. While many of the contenders are considered too big to have a real challenge on their hands, the Indian electorate has always reserved a surprise or two for the pundits.

Here is your 5-point guide to what is at stake in Phase 3 of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls:

The 26 seats in Gujarat - all of which the BJP won in 2014 - and Kerala - whose 20 seats are a major base for the opposition Left and the Congress - are going to vote in this round. The BJP will be in trouble if it slips in Gujarat, the home turf of its two biggest leaders - Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. The Congress and the Left, which are contesting the state separately, must stop an incursion by the BJP if they want to prevail ultimately on May 23 Results Day.
The other two big states voting in the phase are Maharashtra (14 of 48) and Karnataka (14 of 28). Major contests will unfold in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Bihar too. More than 30 of the constituencies going to vote have a high concentration of Muslims and Christians, making it a significant indicator of the minority mandate.
Two highlights of these polls - Congress chief Rahul Gandhi's decision to fight from a second seat in Kerala's Wayanad, far removed from his regular constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh and BJP chief Amit Shah's move to contest from Gandhinagar in Gujarat, replacing a disgruntled party veteran LK Advani, are on the agenda today. Mr Gandhi's pitch for Wayanad has been explained as a strategic decision to shore up votes for the Congress in the South and prove his appeal beyond the usual Hindi heartland. Amit Shah must maintain Mr Advani's vote share or increase it if he wants to emerge victorious in the prestige battle for the BJP citadel.
Other heavyweights who are facing the voters today are Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Congress veterans Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor and BJP street-fighters Anantkumar Hegde and Sambit Patra. The bare-knuckle match between Azam Khan (Samajwadi Party) and Jaya Prada (BJP) in western Uttar Pradesh's Rampur is also due today.
With this phase, polling will be past the halfway point. The outcome in six states and 302 of the total 542 seats will have been sealed. Last time, the BJP had won 66 of the 117 seats going to vote today while the Congress and its alliance partners won 27, and the rest went to other opposition parties and independents.