Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Campaigning ends for phase 3 in 94 seats

Key for the ruling BJP will be the 25 seats in Gujarat since it is the home state of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister Amit Shah.

New Delhi: Campaigning for the third phase of the Lok Sabha polls 2024 came to an end on Sunday. In this phase, 94 seats will go to the polls, with seats of some prominent people facing the contest. Polling will be held on May 7 and campaigning for most of the seats ended at 6 pm on Sunday evening.

The election in the Betul constituency in Madhya Pradesh, which was to be held in the second phase, was postponed after the death of BSP candidate Ashok Bhalavi.

The elections to the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir, which was scheduled to be held in the second phase, has been postponed to May 25.

This phase will see a contest in seats spread across 12 states and UTs. This includes 14 seats in Karnataka, 25 seats of Gujarat, 7 seats in Chhattisgarh, 4 seats in Assam, 5 in Bihar, 11 in Maharashtra, 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 4 in West Bengal, 2 seats each in Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu, and 1 in Jammu and Kashmir.

Some of the seats that will go to contest include seats of prominent leaders. These leaders within the ruling faction include Union Home Minister Amit Shah for his Gandhinagar seat, former Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan for his Vidisha seat, Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia for his seat Guna, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi for his seat Dharwad, and former Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai for Haveri seat.

Among key Opposition leaders, NCP leader Supriya Sule’s seat Baramati and Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh’s Rajgarh seat are also in the fray. Apart from that, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Dimple Yadav’s Mainpuri seat and AIUDF supreme Badruddin Ajmal’s seat Dhubri will also face a contest.

In this phase, the Election Commission (EC) said that, in all, it received 2,963 nominations.

Key for the ruling BJP will be the 25 seats in Gujarat since it is the home state of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Home Minister.

The 14 seats in Karnataka will also be crucial, since the party won all these seats in 2019, and faces a challenge of winning them again in this term.

In Maharashtra, too, the ruling Mahayuti will be facing contests in key seats, including the seats of Union Minister Narayan Rane and BJP leader Pankaja Munde.