Of the 57 seats going to polls, the BJP won 25 seats in 2019, the Indian National Congress eight and the Trinamool Congress nine. The BJD won four seats, the JDU three, the BSP, Apna Dal and Akali Dal two each, while the JMM and AAP won one seat each.
However, in the by-elections, the BJP lost Jalandhar to the AAP and Mandi to the BJP. The AAP lost Sangrur to the Akali Dal (Amritsar). Two sitting BJP MPs, Ravneet Bittu and Preneet Kaur, and AAP MP Sushil Rinku are contesting in Punjab seats on the BJP ticket in this election.
Senior BJP leader Manish Tewari has been transferred from Anandpur Sahib to Chandigarh. In West Bengal, BJP general secretary Abhishek Banerjee will once again contest from Diamond Harbour.
Phase 7 numbers:
Number of seats: 57 – Gen:41, SC:13, ST:3
States/Union Territories: 8
Number of applicants: 904
Female candidates: 95
Number of voters: 106 million
Men: 524 million
Women: 4.82 crore rupees
Third Gender: 3574
Polling stations: 1.09 million
Poll administrators: 1.09 million
Transporting polling stations and security personnel
— 13 Special Trains
— 8 helicopter sorties (Himachal Pradesh)
Observers: 172
— 64 general observers, 32 police observers, 76 expenditure observers.
— In addition, special monitors have been deployed to some states.
Opinion poll monitoring
— 2707 Squadron
— 2799 Static Surveillance Team
— 1080 Video Surveillance Team
— 560 Video Viewing Team
— 201 international border crossings and 906 interstate border crossings are closely monitored to prevent illegal trafficking of alcohol, drugs, cash, prizes, etc.
— Strict surveillance continues on sea and air routes
Main Contests
Varanasi: Narendra Modi (BJP) vs Ajay Rai (Indian National Congress)
Mandi: Kangana Ranaut (BJP) vs Vikramaditya Singh (Congress)
Chandigarh: Manish Tewari (Indian National Congress) vs Sanjay Tandon (Bharatiya Janata Party)
Diamond Harbour: Abhishek Banerjee (TMC) vs Pratik Ur Rahman (CPIM)
