Voting has begun for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday for 121 seats spread over 12 States.
Prominent candidates whose fate will be decided in this phase are Sushil Kumar Shinde, Veerappa Moily, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sachin Pilot, Ajit Jogi and Nandan Nilekani of the Congress, and Maneka Gandhi, Shatrughan Sinha, Santosh Gangwar and BS Yeddyurappa of the BJP. Other prominent candidates in the fray are HD Devegowda of JDS, Supriya Sule of NCP, Misa Bharati of RJD and Jaswant Singh, an independent.
Polling will take place for 28 seats in Karnataka, 20 in Rajasthan, 19 in Maharashtra, 11 each in Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, 10 in Madhya Pradesh, 7 in Bihar, 6 in Jharkhand, 4 in West Bengal, 3 in Chhattisgarh, and one each in Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur.
The fifth phase is witnessing the highest number of Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in a single phase.
Polling, which started at 7 AM, will end at 6 PM except in some naxal affected areas where it will end at 4 PM.
Voting is also taking place today for 77 Assembly segments in Odisha.