Fifth phase of Lok Sabha polls today

Elaborate arrangements have been made for peaceful conduct of fifth phase of Indian Lok Sabha elections today, report agencies.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi will contest today from Amethi and Rae Bareli parliamentary constituencies of Uttar Pradesh.

Other key contestants are senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP leader Smriti Zubin Irani, Congress leader Jitin Prassd and SP's Poonam Sinha, wife of Shatrughan Sinha.

SP-BSP-RLD Alliance has not fielded its candidates in Amethi and Raebareli. Barring Amethi and Raebareli seats, remaining 12 in this phase in Uttar Pradesh were bagged by BJP in 2014.

Fifty one constituencies, spread over seven states, will go to polls in this phase. Voting will take place for 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh; 12 in Rajasthan; seven each in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal; five in Bihar and four in Jharkhand.

In West Bengal, more than 13,000 polling stations have been set up. Important candidates in the fray include former Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress nominee Dinesh Trivedi, BJP's Arjun Singh, former Arjun awarders footballer, Prasun Banerjee and Ratna Dey Nag of Trinamool Congress.

In Jammu and Kashmir, polling will take place in Ladakh and Pulwama and Shopian districts of Anantnag constituencies.