New Delhi: Voting is taking place on Saturday in seven Lok Sabha constituencies where the fate of 3 seats in Assam, 2 in Goa, 1 in Sikkim and 1 in Tripura will be sealed.
Voting for the 32-member Sikkim Assembly is also taking place simultaneously. Karimganj, Silchar and Autonomous district in Assam are voting on Saturday along with two Lok Sabha seats in Goa, North Goa and South Goa.
Also in this phase, one seat in Tripura and the lone Lok Sabha seat in Sikkim are voting.
GOA
In Goa, former chief minister Ravi Naik of the Congress is taking on three times MP and former Union minister Sripad Naik in North Goa which is considered a BJP bastion.
Aleixo Reginaldo, has replaced sitting MP Francisco Sardinha as the Congress candidate in South Goa. According to local media reports, he is finding the going not so easy in the South Goa constituency which has returned a Congress candidate 10 times in 14 Lok Sabha polls. On 12 instances, the candidate has been a Roman Catholic.
The ruling BJP has fielded Narendra Savoikar, who is making every effort to win over the dominant Catholic votes in this Congress friendly constituency. However, a last-minute advisory issued by the influential Roman Catholic Church asking the Catholic population, which is more than 27 per cent in the state, not to vote for "communal politics" seems to have dented the BJP's march in South Goa.
ASSAM
A total of 38 candidates including six crorepatis are in the fray in the second phase polling in Assam. 29, 15,127 voters are eligible to exercise their democratic right.
According to reports, the Congress candidate Biren Singh Ingti who has been representing the Autonomous District seat in Lok Sabha since 1971 is facing stiff challenge from the BJP candidate Joyram Engleng in this election. The BJP has been campaigning vigorously in the constituency that comprises of two hill districts of Assam - Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao. The BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, too, has campaigned in this remote constituency in Assam. BJP candidate Engleng had shifted allegiance to the BJP from the Congress. On the other hand, Independent candidate Chomang Kro who is supported by Hill State Demand Committee (HSDC) hopes to capitalize on anti-Congress and anti-BJP votes to sail through.
The two other constituencies - Silchar and Karimganj - that are going for polls in the second phase are located in the under developed Barak Valley in South. Here the key segments of voters are Muslims, Bengali-speaking Hindus and tea garden workers.
The Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) are targeting voters from Muslim and tea workers communities while the BJP basically banks on Bengali-speaking Hindu voters and tribal voters.
Congress has fielded one of its young MLAs, Sushmita Dev (42), daughter of former Union minister and Congress heavy weight Santosh Mohan Dev from Silchar constituency. She is posing challenge to veteran BJP leader and sitting MP Kabindra Purkayastha (84).
There are 15 candidates in the fray in Karimganj constituency where the main fight is confined to Congress candidate and sitting MP, Lalit Mohan Suklavaidya, Radheshyam Biswas of All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and Krishna Das of the BJP.
SIKKIM
Sikkim is holding simultaneous polls for its lone Lok Sabha constituency and 32 Assembly seats. An electorate of 370,731, including 1, 79,650 female voters, are eligible to vote in the polls.
Security for the poll would be provided by 3,500 policemen and 15 companies of the West Bengal police. In all 538 polling stations have been set up.
In the Lok Sabha seat, SKM's Tek Nath Dhakal is giving sitting SDF MP Prem Das Rai a tough fight. BJP, Congress, Trinamool and Aam Aadmi Party have also fielded their candidates.
With support growing for the newly-formed Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, the ruling Sikkim Democratic Front is facing a huge challenge to its 20-year long uninterrupted rule.
The outgoing Assembly has no opposition as the ruling SDF won all 32 assembly seats last time. There are 121 contestants for the 32 Assembly seats and six for the Lok Sabha seat.
SKM leader Prem Singh Tamang, known as PS Golay, is a major contender for the chief ministership. After breaking away from SDF chief and chief minister PK Chamling last year to form his new party, he is fighting from Namthang-Rateypani seat in South Sikkim district against his rival SDF's sitting minister Tilu Gurung.
Chamling is contesting from two seats - Namchi-Singhithang and Rangang-Yangang. Other prominent candidates included SKM's Bharati Sharma from Soreng-Chakung seat.
The Buddhist minority wanted their Karmapa to be enthroned in his seat in Rumtek monastery while the Nepali communities, which form almost half of the populace, are seeking tribal status.
Out of the 32 Assembly seats, two are reserved for the SC while 12 are meant for the Bhutia and Lepcha communities.
More than 2,900 monks from over 100 monasteries would choose one among three Lamas contesting for the 'Sangha' seat, unique to the state.
The Congress is contesting in all the seats, while the BJP has put up candidates in 13 seats and Trinamool 7. Besides, there were five independents contesting the Assembly polls.
TRIPURA
Over 11 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their Lok Sabha member from the tribal reserved Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency. There are 12 candidates, including two women in the fray. The main fight is between Jitendra Choudhury of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and Sachitra Debbarma of the Congress. Choudhury is Tripura's industry, commerce and rural development minister, while Debbarma is a National Award winning teacher.
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