New Delhi: As the 4th phase of voting began for Lok Sabha elections in 72 constituencies for 9 states, all eyes are on battle between Bharatiya Janta Party candidate Giriraj Singh and CPI candidate Kanhaiya Kumar who are contesting from Begusarai seat in Bihar.  

Kumar, who is new to political arena as compared to veteran BJP leader Giriraj Singh, shot to fame after his arrest three years ago in a sedition case for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at an event in the JNU campus.

In spite of his lower experience in active politics, he has been receiving support from various famous personalities like Bollywood actor Shabana Azmi.

Giriraj on the other hand is a current Minister of State for Small and Medium Enterprises is currently an MP from Nawada parliamentary constituency.

Voting for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states. About 12.79 crore people are eligible for voting in the fourth of the seven-phase elections.

The Election Commission has set up 1.40 lakh polling booths/stations and has made elaborate security arrangements.

Polling will be held in 17 seats in Maharashtra, 13 each in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, eight in West Bengal, six each in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha, five in Bihar, three in Jharkhand and a part of the Anantnag constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

The stakes are high for the ruling BJP and its allies as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress (six seats) and the Biju Janata Dal (six).

The fate of 961 candidates, including Union ministers Giriraj Singh, Subhash Bhamre, S S Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will be decided in this phase.