Stage set for first phase polls; Lalu, Tharoor in fray

New Delhi: The first phase of polling covering 124 constituencies spread across 14 states and three Union Territories will take place on Thursday.

Among the star candidates contesting in the first phase are K Chandrashekhar Rao of the Telangana Rashtriya Samithi, Congress' Renuka Chowdhury and Shashi Tharoor, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Yashwant Sinha and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad.

While Rao is in the fray from Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh, Chowdhury is contesting from Khammam and Tharoor is trying his luck from Thiruvananthapuram.

Sinha is contesting from Hazaribagh in Jharkhand. But in perhaps in the biggest contest of the first phase will see Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the BJP taking Lalu Prasad at Saran in Bihar.

In Varanasi senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi faces alleged mafia don Mukhtar Ansari of the Bhaujan Samaj Party.

Other prominent candidates in the fray are actress Vijayasanthi, NTR's daughter D Purandeswari and former Union minister B Dattatreya all of whom are contesting from Andhra Pradesh.

While all 20 seats in Kerala, 11 in Chhattisgarh and two in Meghalaya would go to polls in a single phase on Thursday, polling would be held in 13 out of 40 seats in Bihar, 16 out of 80 in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra 13 (48), Andhra Pradesh 22 (42), Jharkhand, Orissa 10 (21), Assam 3 (14), Arunachal Pradesh two (two), Manipur one (two) and Jammu and Kashmir one (six).

The lone seats in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Mizoram and Nagaland would also be covered.

Assembly elections in some seats in Andhra Pradesh and Orissa will also be held simultaneously on Thursday.

While elections will be held in 154 out of a total of 294 Assembly constituencies in Andhra, 70 out of 147 Assembly constituencies will go to polls in Orissa.

Tight security arrangements have been made for the polls with Central paramilitary forces being deployed along with the security forces of the states.

State borders have been sealed to prevent movement of criminal elements and liquor.

Other phases of Lok Sabha polls are due on April 23, 30 and May 7 and 13. Counting of all the phases will be held on May 16.

(With inputs from PTI)