New Delhi: Stakes will be high for Congress and BJP and a number of other parties like AIADMK, DMK, NCP and Shiv Sena when 117 constituencies will go to polls today in yet another substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections.
Over 18 crore voters in 11 states and union territory of Puducherry will be able to vote in the sixth of the nine- phased elections today in which there are 2076 candidates.
Of the 117 seats, Congress has 37 while BJP has 24.
It will decide whether BJP, which has cobbled a rainbow coalition of six parties, will be able to break the citadels of Dravidian parties DMK and AIADMK in Tamil Nadu. 39 constituencies in the state and the lone seat in Puducherry will complete voting on a single day.
DMK has 18 seats and AIADMK nine. Congress, whose success in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in the last two general elections in alliance with DMK helped in government formation in Delhi, is unlikely to retain any of the eight seats it has.
Among the prominent candidates in the field in Tamil Nadu are former minister Dayanidhi Maran (Central Chennai), former Telecom Minister A Raja (Nilgiris), DMK leader T R Baalu, Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti (Sivaganga), MDMK leader Vaiko (Virudunagar) and Union Minister V Narayanasamy (Puducherry).
Another prestige contest today will be the elections in Maharashtra where polling will be held in 19 seats, including six in Mumbai, all of them held by Congress and its ally NCP.
Important candidates in fray are Union Minister Milind Deora (Mumbai-South), Priya Dutt (Mumbai-North Central), Gurudas Kamath (Mumbai-North West), AAP candidates Medha Patkar (Mumbai North East) and Meera Sanyal (Mumbai-South).
Four constituencies will go to poll today in the third and last phase of Lok Sabha election in Jharkhand where a total of 72 candidates are in the fray.
