Big Vote: Sonia, Advani in Phase 3 poll fray

LOK SABHA ELECTIONS PHASE III FACTOIDS

• Number of seats going to polls: 107 across 11 states/UTs
• Number of polling stations: Nearly 1, 65,000
• Number of electors: Nearly 14,40,00,000
• Number of Candidates: 1567
• Number of women candidates: 101
• Number of political parties participating: 135
• Number of Independents participating: 752
• Number of Naxal-affected polling stations: 15193
• Villages declared vulnerable and likely to be intimidated: 19,763
• Troublemakers identified for the third phase: 45,843

PHASE III: THE X-FACTORS

• Will Gujarat results give Modi and the BJP real momentum?
• Will the Left suffer reverses in West Bengal for the 1st time in three decades?
• Will Lalu Yadav be able to stop the Nitish Kumar roller coaster?
• Will Deve Gowda be able to help Third Front ambitions?
• Will the BJP build on its success in Assembly Polls in Madhya Pradesh?
• Will 26/11 affect voting patterns in Mumbai-Thane?
• Can Mayawati's BSP emerge as the single largest party in UP?
New Delhi: It’s one of the most critical phases in the General Elections 2009. As 100 seats across 11 states and union territories go to polls in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, all eyes are on the bigwigs whose fates will be sealed. Among the key players are Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s PM candidate L K Advani, Congress’ Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Karnataka CM Deve Gowda and MP Priya Dutt They are among the 1,567 candidates whose political fates will be decided on Thursday when the third phase of Election 2009 is held across nine states and two union territories. As the summer gathers force with temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius and more in many parts of the country, voters will begin queuing up outside the 165,000 polling stations in 107 constituencies from 0700 hrs IST. The exercise, which involves an electorate of over 144 million, 2,00,000 electronic voting machines and 6,00,000 election officials, will conclude at 1700 hrs IST. In Gujarat, polling will conclude in all its 26 constituencies along with two neighbouring union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and and Daman and Diu and Sikkim, which have one seat each. West Bengal will see the first of its two-phase election while balloting will conclude in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Bihar will have one more round to go. In Uttar Pradesh, which has the highest 80 seats, and in Jammu and Kashmir polling would continue through the rest of the two phases on May 7 and May 13. Besides Sonia, seeking re-election from Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh for the second time, and Advani, who has been representing Gandhinagar in Gujarat for the last three terms and tries his electoral luck again, other major leaders are also in the fray in this round. PAGE_BREAK These include former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) convenor Sharad Yadav, veteran Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta and BJP's former external affairs minister Jaswant Singh. There are 101 women candidates but none in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, and Daman and Diu. The Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow has the maximum 41 candidates battling it out while the seat, presently held by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (BJP), also has the highest number of women candidates at five, including Samajwadi Party's Nafisa Ali. Vajpayee is not contesting this election because of health reasons. The third phase has a mixed bag of candidates -- 258 have criminal records and 223 are millionaires, according to a study by NGO National Election Watch (NEW). WHO’S WORTH WHAT? L K Advani BJP's PM designate, Lal Krishna Advani is worth Rs 25,000 in cash in 2009 in comparison to Rs 15,000 in 2004. The former deputy PM’s bank deposits are worth Rs 1.04 cr now as opposed to Rs 24.95 lakh in 2004. Advani's investments have seen a decrease from Rs 14.80 lakh in 2004 to just Rs 5,000 now. Advani's worth in jewellery has increased from Rs 7 lakh in 2004 to Rs 16 lakh now even as the Advani family doesn’t own any cars. Advani's properties in NCR and Gandhinagar have seen an increase in value from Rs 85 lakh in 2004 to Rs 2.35 crore now. All in all, the net worth of Advani has increased from Rs 1.3 crore in 2004 to Rs 3.55 crore in 2009. Nafisa Ali: The former Miss India, and Samajwadi party's Candidate from Lucknow owns Rs 1.12 lakh in cash in 2009 as opposed to Rs 23,000 in 2004. Nafisa's bank deposits have increased from Rs 52 lakh in 2004 to Rs 1.4 crore in 2009. Her worth in jewellery has not seen much of a change while her investments are up from Rs 29.43 lakh in 2004 to Rs 1.08 crore now. Nafisa's worth in vehicles is up from Rs 80,000 in 2004 to Rs 20.05 lakh now. The value of Nafisa's properties has increased from Rs 1.13 crore to Rs 2.66 crore in 2009. In total she is now worth Rs 5.6 crore. Milind Deora: Congress MP, fighting to retain the Mumbai South Constituency is worth Rs 3.5 lakh in cash now in contrast to Rs 22,000 five years ago. Deora's bank deposits have increased to Rs 58.59 lakh in 2009 from Rs 15.43 lakh in 2004. His investments have increased from Rs 41.50 lakhs to Rs 6.28 crores and so has his worth in Jewellery from Rs 3.71 lakh to Rs 1.22 crore. Milind now owns three vehicles valued at Rs 20.28 lakh. But he still owns no property. The value of Deora's worth as part owner of various enterprises has shown an almost two fold increase from 2004's Rs 4.39 crore to Rs 8.86 crore in 2009. The total worth of the 32-year-old is up from Rs 5 crore in 2004 to Rs 17.18 crore now. Mallika Sarabhai: The Independent candidate facing off L K Advani is worth Rs 11.49 lakh in cash. She has no bank deposits and her worth in jewellery is just about Rs 5,000. She's invested about Rs 1.92 crore though she owns no vehicles. Her property is worth Rs 1.75 crore and her worth in other assets such as claims in interests are worth Rs 2.22 crore. Her net worth is Rs 6 crore.