New Delhi: The fifth phase of Lok Sabha election polling began at 7 am on Monday for 49 constituencies in 6 States and 2 Union Territories. The prominent leaders are Smriti Irani, Rahul Gandhi, Chirag Paswan and Omar Abdullah is contesting.

Fifth phase of polling will be held for five seats in Bihar, Jharkhand (3), Maharashtra (13), Odisha (5), UP (14), West Bengal (7) and two Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir (1) and Ladakh (1). With this phase, election will be over in Maharashtra and Ladakh.

Voting will be held for 35 seats of the Odisha Assembly and 21 Lok Sabha seats as part of the simultaneous polling in the state.In Bengal, a tough fight is on the cards on several seats, with Congress and CPM muscling into what was expected to be a straight fight between the BJP and the ruling TMC.

The list of key candidates in the fifth phase include Union Ministers Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Bharati Pawar (Dindori), Smriti Irani (Amethi), Rajnath Singh (Lucknow). Among key allies is Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas chief Chirag Paswan (Hajipur), Shrikant Shinde, son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (Kalyan).

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi is defending Raebareli; RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav’s daughter Rohini Acharya is contesting against BJP’s former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Saran; Shiv Sena-UBT leader and former Union Minister Arvind Sawant is contesting from Mumbai South.

In Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla, former Chief Minister and NC Chief Omar Abdullah faces the PDP’s Faiyaz A Mir, People’s Conference Chief Sajad Ghani Lone, and Awami Ittehad Party chief, the jailed Engineer Rashid.