Today in Politics: In Phase 3, 93 seats to vote across 11 states

We are almost three weeks into the seven-phase Lok Sabha election process of this summer. On Tuesday, in the third phase, voters in 93 seats across 11 states and UTs will cast their votes. Following this, a total of 283 seats would have wrapped up polling, while five states — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka and Gujarat — would have fully completed their voting procedures.

The 2019 results in these seats indicate that the BJP practically swept the regions that vote today.

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

There are a total 1,332 candidates in the fray on Tuesday. 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 candidates with criminal cases, at 26 or 38% of all its candidates in the third phase, followed by the BJP at 22 or 27%. There are also 103 Independents with criminal cases.

One thing that will be tracked Tuesday is the voting percentages. The Election Commission (EC) has recently acknowledged the dip in voting turnouts this time — under 4 percentage points for the first phase of elections and under 3 percentage points for the second phase compared to the 2019 elections — and expressed disappointment about the polling percentage in some metropolitan cities in the