Polling for fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections begins

New Delhi, May 7 (ANI): Polling for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections began today amid tight security.

In this phase, the election is being held in 85 constituencies spread across the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi.

Polling for all 25 seats in Rajasthan, 10 in Haryana and seven in Delhi will be completed in one-go.

A total of 1,315 candidates, including 119 women, are in the fray in this phase.Prominent among the candidates are BJP President Rajnath Singh contesting from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency, Congress' Pranab Mukherjee from Jangipura, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri and RJD chief Lalu Prasad from Saran and Pataliputra.

The other prominent candidates are National Conference's Farooq Abdullah (Srinagar), Congress' Kapil Sibal (Chandni Chowk), Sachin Pilot (Ajmer), Shekar Suman (Patna Saheb), BJP's Shatrugan Sinha (Patna Saheb) and HJC's Bhajan Lal (Hisar).

As many as 9.46 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.

Polling, which commenced at 7: 00 a.m., is being held across 1.29 lakh booths.

Security has been tightened in New Delhi as police erected barricades and frisked passengers entering the capital.

Vehicles coming in and going out of New Delhi were being stopped on the border and strict security checks were being conducted to keep a check on any untoward activity.

Following militant threats to disrupt elections, security forces are on a high alert and are taking all possible steps to ensure that the massive election exercise in which more than 714 million people are eligible to vote, passes off without any untoward incident.

Maoist violence hit the first two rounds of voting in the general election, killing at least 21 people as rebels targeted police and polling officials.

The first, second and third phases of polling were held on April 16, 23 and 30 respectively.

The counting of votes will take place on May 16.

The 543-member House will be constituted before June 2. (ANI)