Phase 4 of LS polls

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Phase 4 of LS polls tomorrow; to cover 7 seats in four states

The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections will take place on Friday covering seven constituencies in four states where over half-a-crore voters will decide the fate of 74 candidates.

While the first phase of the nine phased electoral battle took place on April 7, the polling for the third phase concluded yesterday evening with an impressive voter turnout. The states which will be covered in tomorrow’s phase are Goa, Assam, Tripura and Sikkim. Goa, with two seats, will witness a single phased poll tomorrow where 19 candidates are in fray for the North and South Goa constituencies, including those of Congress, BJP, CPI and other regional parties and independents.  Prominent candidates from North Goa include Ravi Naik (Cong), BJP’s sitting MP Shripad Naik and AAP’s Dattaram Desai.  From the South Goa seat, Congress’ Aleixo Reginaldo Lourenco, BJP’s Narendra Sawaikar and AAP’s Swati Kerkar are among the prominent contenders.  South Goa’s sitting MP Francisco Sardinha (Cong) has not been given a ticket this time. In Goa, after every one male voter, two women voters would be allowed to exercise their franchisee. This has been done for the first time keeping in mind that the females need to come out in large number to increase the voting percentage in the state. Tripura also goes to poll tomorrow to elect its second representative to the Lok Sabha from the Tripura East (ST) constituency. A multi-cornered contest will take place in the constituency among the CPI(M), Congress, Trinamool Congress and BJP. There are 12 candidates in the fray including CPI(M)’s Jitendra Chowdhury, who is the state industries minister, Congress’ Sachitra Debbarma, a prominent educationist, BJP’s Parkshit Debbarma, an ex-armyman, and Trinamool Congress leader Bhriguram Reang.