 "NOTA CANDIDATE, elections")
Campaigning ended for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday in which 58 constituencies spread across eight states and a UT will go to the polls on Saturday.
Voting will take place on all seven Lok Sabha seats of Delhi and Haryana which BJP clean-sweeped in the 2019 polls.
Like other phases, this round of elections will also see some key contests across states.
A total of 889 candidates are in the fray from the 58 Lok Sabha constituencies in this phase.
The sixth phase includes eight seats in Bihar, all 10 seats in Haryana, one seat in Jammu and Kashmir, four in Jharkhand, all seven seats in Delhi, six in Odisha, 14 in Uttar Pradesh and eight in West Bengal.
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Forty-two assembly constituencies in Odisha are also going for polls in the third phase of Assembly elections being held in the state simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections on May 25.
Some of the key seats in this phase include New Delhi, North-East Delhi, North-West Delhi and Chandni Chowk in the national capital and Sultanpur and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh.
Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag-Rajouri, West Bengal's Tamluk, Medinipur, Haryana's Karnal, Kurukshetra, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Odisha's Bhubaneswar, Puri and Sambalpur are some of the other key seats.
Some of the prominent candidates in the fray include BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, union minister Dharmendra Pradhan, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and former union minister Maneka Gandhi and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Bansuri Swaraj, Somnath Bharti, Manoj Tiwari, Kanhaiya Kumar, Dinesh Lal Yadav alias 'Nirahua', Dharmendra Yadav, Abhijit Gangopadhyay, Agnimitra Paul, Naveen Jindal, Raj Babbar, Deepender Singh Hooda, Kumari Selja and Aparajita Sarangia are among other prominent candidates in the fray.
Stakes are high for BJP as also for Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and other constituents of INDIA bloc in this phase of election.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was granted interim bail by the Supreme Court till June 1 after he was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy case.
The general elections are being held across seven phases. The first five phases were held on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20 while the subsequent phases are scheduled on May 25, and June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4.
While the Bharatiya Janata Party, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is seeking a third straight term in power, the Opposition INDIA bloc is aiming to form its government at the Centre.
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