Voting begins in 59 seats in final phase of LS polls

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) Voting began on Sunday in 59 Lok Sabha constituencies spanning seven states and a Union Territory across north, central and east India in the final stage of the mega seven-phase electoral exercise.This phase covers all remaining seats in the three states -- Uttar Pradesh (13, including the high-profile Varanasi constituency), Bihar (8) and West Bengal (9) - where polling took place across all seven phases, as well as Madhya Pradesh (8) and Jharkhand (3) which also saw multi-stage voting.All the 13 constituencies in Punjab, one in Chandigarh, and four in Himachal Pradesh also figure in this phase.Re-polling is also being held in several booths in parliamentary seats in six states and in Assembly constituencies in two. These seats include Kerala's Kannur and Kasargod, Tamil Nadu's Dharmapuri, Theni, Thiruvallur, Cuddalore and Erode, Haryana's Faridabad, Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh, West Bengal's Bankura, Andhra Pradesh's Chittoor parliamentary and Chandgiri Assembly constituencies and 34 Assembly segments in 10 Odisha districts.Voting is also on in bypolls for four Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, two in Karnataka and the Panaji Assembly seat, which fell vacant after the death of Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar.
--IANS vd/pgh/