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Final phase of elections will be notified on Tuesday

The filing of nominations will begin tomorrow in 110 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over eight states and one Union territory with the President issuing the notification for the fifth and final phase of the 13th general elections on October 3.

In all, 122 Lok Sabha constituencies would go to polls on October 3, including Narasaraopet in Andhra Pradesh, where polling was postponed following a bomb-blast. The notification for 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Orissa, which would also go to the polls on October 3 was issued in advance on September 3 because of certain holidays there.

Elections in Narasaraopet and seven assembly segments falling under it scheduled for yesterday were postponed following a bomb blast in which four people, including an independent candidate for the Narasaraopet Lok Sabha seat, were killed. Five assembly constituencies of Karnataka, where polling was scheduled for yesterday, would also go to the polls on October 3 as elections were postponed due to some malpractices during the filing of nominations.

Tomorrow's notification would cover Arunachal Pradesh (2 constituencies), Assam (14), Bihar (16), Manipur (1), Sikkim (1), Tripura (2), Uttar Pradesh (31), West Bengal (42) and Lakshadweep (1). Simultaneously, the governors of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim would issue notifications for elections to the 60-member and 32-member state assemblies respectively.

Returning officers in these constituencies will accept nominations till September 14. Scrutiny will take place the next day and September 17 would be the last date for withdrawal of nominations. Campaigning will end on October 1, two days before the poll day.

Counting will take place on October 6. With tomorrow's notification, the electoral process would have started in all 543 parliamentary constituencies. Polling took place in 145 Lok Sabha constituencies spread over 16 states and Union territories, and 343 assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra yesterday. The next phase of polling is scheduled for September 11 in 123 Lok sabha constituencies in eight states as well as the assembly constituencies of Maharashtra (144), Karnataka (104), and Andhra Pradesh (105). Campaigning is on in full swing in the states of Andhra Pradesh (15 seats), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Karnataka (13), Kerala (20), Madhya Pradesh (14), Maharashtra (24), Rajasthan (15) and Tamil Nadu (20) for the September 11 polling.

The third phase of polling on September 18 would cover 79 constituencies in the five states of Andhra Pradesh (14), Bihar (19), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Madhya Pradesh (14) and Uttar Pradesh (30).

Elections would also be held for remaining 98 assembly constituencies in Andhra Pradesh.

In the fourth phase on September 25, 74 constituencies spread over nine states would go to the polls. These are Bihar (19), Himachal Pradesh (4), Madhya Pradesh (12), Manipur (1), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Orissa (10) and Uttar Pradesh (24).

Counting of votes would be taken up in all constituencies on October 6 and the entire poll process would be completed by October 10.

UNI

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