71 vs 4: In Phase 3 seats that vote tomorrow, BJP was miles ahead of Congress

In the third phase of voting for the Lok Sabha elections, 93 seats across 12 states and UTs will go to polls on Tuesday. After Phase 3, a total of 283 seats would have completed polling. In Phase 3, five states will complete polling – Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat, where the BJP candidate in Surat has already won unopposed after other candidates’ nominations were rejected or withdrawn.

Of the 93 seats, 10 are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 11 for Scheduled Tribes.

In 2019, the parties that now constitute the Opposition INDIA bloc and the ruling NDA had won 8 and 75 of these seats, with the 10 remaining seats split between the undivided Shiv Sena (4), the undivided NCP (3), the Bajruddin Ajmal-led AIUDF (1) and two Independents. In terms of vote share, the NDA had got 51.8% of the votes compared to the INDIA bloc’s 31.9% (excluding the votes of the Shiv Sena and NCP, both of which were united at the time).

The BJP alone had won 71 of these 93 seats, with the Congress far behind at 4.

In 2014, the NDA had won 68 of these seats and the INDIA bloc parties 15, with 11 going to other parties.

There will be a total 1,210 candidates in the fray on Friday. The BJP has fielded the most candidates in this phase at 82, followed by the BSP at 79 and the Congress at 68. With 25 seats in Gujarat going to polls, the state has the most candidates contesting at 266, followed by Maharashtra (11 seats) at 258 and Karnataka (14 seats) at 227.

Of the 241 candidates with criminal cases, Maharashtra has the most such candidates at 67, followed by Karnataka at 37 and Gujarat at 36. In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Goa, a quarter of the candidates are facing criminal cases. Among the major parties, the Congress has the most