NEW DELHI: The polling began for the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in India on Thursday.
The polling is being conducted in all seven constituencies of Delhi, all 20 seats in the southern state of Kerala, and 10 seats each in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Orissa.
The voting for 92 parliamentary seats in 14 states will take place in nine phases over five weeks due to logistical and safety reasons in the country of 1.2 billion people.
The polling process which began on April 7 will continue till May 12 while votes will be counted on May 16. The new Parliament has to be constituted by May 31.
Some 814 million eligible voters will elect members of the 543-seat Lok Sabha in the world’s biggest elections. Any party or coalition needs a minimum of 272 seats in the parliament to be able to form a government.
On the first day on Monday, the polling took place in six constituencies in the northeastern states of Assam and Tripura. In the second phase on Wednesday, voting was held in six seats across the four states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Manipur in northeast of the country.
The main contest in the elections is between the Congress Party, led by Rahul Gandhi, and main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by the nationalist leader, Narendra Modi.
