Over 100mn in 14 states vote in game-changer...
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The region also has some star value. Hema Malini is contesting from Mathura on BJP ticket, Nagma on Congress ticket from Meerut and Gul Panag on Aam Aadmi Party ticket against former Railway minister Pawan Bansal from Chandigarh.
Other prominent contests whose fate will be former Army chief General V K Singh of BJP, industrialist Naveen Jindal of the Congress and Yogendra Yadav of AAP. Away from serenity and political intensity of the Capital region, the hot and security sensitive Maoist-affected areas of Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand would witness its first poll of the 2014 general elections.
On Wednesday, two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans were killed in an ambush by the red rebels while they were escorting personnel for Thursday’s poll. The Election Commission (EC) has kept its fingers crossed even though thousands of security personnel have been deployed. “You cannot predict peaceful polls there. In last elections some of our poll personnel were ambushed,” a senior election commission official said.
Elections will also be held for six seats in Bihar including Sasaram, from where Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar is contesting, and Jamui, from where Chirag Paswan is in the fray.
Polling will also be held for nine seats in Madhya Pradesh and 10 in Maharashtra, apart from all 20 seats in Kerala, where the Left Front is seeking revival of its fortune.
Over 100 million voters across 14 states and union would be eligible to vote to decide on electoral fortune of about 1,419 candidates in fray.