Stage set for final round
The stage is set for Monday's make or break final round of polling covering 182 Lok Sabha seats in 16 states and union territories.
In the backdrop of a photo finish to the race for power, the stage is set for Monday's make or break final round of polling covering 182 Lok Sabha seats in 16 states and union territories, including Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir where terrorists attacked a police vehicle killing an official and injuring 20 others.
Elaborate security measures have been put in place for estimated 25.15 crore electorate to cast their votes to choose from among 2,132 aspirants, including 149 women.
Polling will be held in remaining 18 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, 17 in Madhya Pradesh and two in Jammu and Kashmir, all 42 in West Bengal, 39 in Tamil Nadu, 20 in Kerala, 13 in Punjab, 10 in Haryana, seven in Delhi, five in Uttaranchal, four in Himachal Pradesh and one each in Lakshwadweep, Pondicherry and Chandigarh and Silchar (Assam) and Sikkim. Elections will also be held for 32-member Sikkim assembly.
Prominent among those whose electoral fortunes will be decided on Monday are CPI-M veteran Somnath Chatterjee, Dy Speaker in the dissolved Lok Sabha PM Sayeed and Union Ministers Jagmohan, BC Khanduri, Mamata Banerjee, SS Dhindsa, Satyanarayan Jatiya, Sahib Singh Verma, ID Swami and Vijay Goel.
An information officer was killed and 20 others, including four policemen and a local journalist, were wounded when terrorists hurled grenade aimed at the vehicle carrying senior superintendent of police in Doda which comes under Udhampur constituency from where Union Minister Chaman Lal Gupta is in fray.