The Penultimate poll day

With nearly half of the 64 seats that go to polls in the penultimate round of the Lok Sabha elections today, Congress appears to have an uphill task to perform when the whole of Seemandhra and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal cast their vote.Conversely, its main rival BJP, which currently has only five seats in Wednesday's round, may have everything to gain if it improves its performance in heartland UP and Bihar and Uttarakhand.

The fate of 1,737 candidates, including Rahul Gandhi (Amethi), his cousin Varun (Sultanpur), Union minister Beni Prasad Verma (Gonda), cricketer-turned-politician Mohammed Kaif (Phulpur-all in UP), Ram Vilas Paswan (Hajipur), Rabri Devi and Rajiv Pratap Rudy (Saran-all in Bihar) is in the hands of 18.47 crore voters who are eligible to cast their franchise. (India on Course for Record General Election Turnout)

Elections will also be held in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh where Pratibha, wife of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, is contesting while Anurag Thakur, sitting MP and son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is the candidate in Hamirpur.

Seemandhra, comprising the areas of Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra Pradesh accounting for 25 seats, will vote for both Lok Sabha and Assembly. In the last two Parliamentary elections, Congress had done exceedingly well and had contributed overwhelmingly to the making of the UPA government at the Centre.


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