Kicking off the second half of the Lok Sabha elections, 96 constituencies in 10 states and Union Territories (UTs) will go to polls on Monday. After Phase 4, polling will be over in 379 seats and three states: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Madhya Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh is also holding Assembly elections, as is Odisha, where polling begins on Monday. In 2019, the parties constituting the Opposition INDIA bloc and the ruling NDA had won 11 and 47 of these 96 seats. The BJP won 42 of these seats, with the Congress far behind at six. Several non-aligned parties won a considerable chunk of these constituencies. Andhra’s ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) won 22 constituencies, Telangana’s former ruling party Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) won nine, and the AIMIM and Biju Janata Dal (BJD) won two each. The undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena won one and two seats, respectively. In terms of vote share, the parties that constitute NDA received 40.34% of the votes compared to the 23.73% of the INDIA alliance parties (excluding the votes of the Shiv Sena and NCP, both of which were united at the time). In 2014, the NDA won 56 of these seats and the INDIA bloc parties 11, with 29 going to other parties. The candidates There will be 1,717 candidates in the fray on Monday. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has fielded the most candidates at 92, followed by the BJP at 70, the Congress at 61, and the YSRCP at 25. With all 17 and 25 parliamentary seats in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, respectively, going to polls, the states have the most candidates overall at 525 and 454, followed by Maharashtra’s 298 candidates in 11 seats, and Uttar Pradesh’s 130 in 13 seats. Of the 360 candidates facing criminal cases, Telangana has the most at 104, followed by Andhra Pradesh at 88, and Maharashtra at 73. Shirur and Aurangabad in Maharashtra have the most candidates with pending cases at 11 each. Among the major parties, the BJP has the most candidates with criminal cases, at 40 or 57% of all its candidates, followed by the Congress at 35 or 57%. PARTY-WISE CANDIDATES WITH CRIMINAL CASES BJP: 40 candidates (57% of all party candidates) Congress: 35 (57%) YSRCP: 12 (48%) BSP: 11 (12%) BRS: 9 (53%) VBA: 8 (73%) SP: 7 (37%) Of the 476 crorepati candidates, Andhra Pradesh has the most at 128, followed by Telangana at 109, and Maharashtra at 80. Among the parties, the BJP has the most crorepati candidates at 65 or 93% of its candidates, followed by the Congress at 56 or 92% of its candidates. Two of the three richest candidates in the fourth phase are from the TDP, which has allied with the BJP. RICHEST CANDIDATES Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani (TDP), contesting from Andhra Pradesh’s Guntur | Assets: Rs 5,706 crore Konda Vishweshwar Reddy (BJP), contesting from Telangana’s Chevella | Assets: Rs 4,568 crore Prabhakar Reddy Vemireddy (TDP), contesting from Andhra Pradesh’s Nellore | Assets: Rs 716 crore YOUNGEST AND OLDEST Youngest: 15 candidates aged 25, including 7 Independents, 7 from minor parties, and 1 from BJP ally LJP Oldest: Padiga Yarraiah, an 80-year-old Independent contesting from Telangana's Mahabubabad The key battlegrounds in Phase 4 ANDHRA PRADESH (LOK SABHA) Total seats: 25 Total electors: 4.08 crore ANDHRA PRADESH (ASSEMBLY) Total seats: 175 TELANGANA Total seats: 17 Total electors: 3.3 crore MADHYA PRADESH Total seats: 29 (8 in Phase 4) Total electors: 5.64 crore OTHER STATES AND UTs GOING TO POLLS Uttar Pradesh: 13 seats (Akbarpur, Bahraich, Dhaurahra, Etawah, Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Kanpur, Kheri, Misrikh, Shahjahanpur, Sitapur, Unnao) Maharashtra: 11 seats (Ahmadnagar, Aurangabad, Beed, Jalgaon, Jalna, Maval, Nandurbar, Pune, Raver, Shirdi, Shirur) West Bengal: 8 seats (Asansol, Baharampur, Bardhaman Durgapur, Bardhaman Purba, Birbhum, Bolpur, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat) Bihar: 5 seats (Begusarai, Darbhanga, Munger, Samastipur, Ujiarpur) Jharkhand: 4 seats (Khunti, Lohardaga, Palamau, Singhbhum) Odisha: 4 seats (Berhampur, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur) J&K: 1 seat (Srinagar) 5 CONTESTS TO WATCH OUT FOR Kannauj, Uttar Pradesh: Former CM and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav vs sitting MP Subrat Pathak (BJP) vs Imran Bin Zafar (BSP) | 2019 winner: BJP Krishnanagar, West Bengal: Former MP (expelled last December) Mahua Moitra (TMC) vs queen of erstwhile Krishnanagar royal family Amrita Roy (BJP) vs S M Sadi (CPM) | 2019 winner: TMC Baharampur, West Bengal: Sitting MP and Lok Sabha party leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury (Cong) vs former cricketer Yusuf Pathan (TMC) vs surgeon Dr Nirmal Kumar Saha (BJP) | 2019 winner: Congress Hyderabad, Telangana: Sitting MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi vs activist Madhavi Latha (BJP) vs activist Gaddam Srinivas Yadav (BRS) vs district part chief Mohammed Waliullah Sameer (Cong) | 2019 winner: AIMIM Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh: Congress state chief Y S Sharmila Reddy vs sitting MP Y S Avinash Reddy (YSRCP) vs Jammalamadugu Assembly seat in-charge C Bhupesh Reddy (TDP) | 2019 winner: YSRCP
