New Delhi, 23 April  - The third phase of Lok Sabha elections, scheduled for May 7, will see 1351 candidates competing for 94 seats across 12 states and union territories. The election for the Betul (ST) Lok Sabha constituency in Madhya Pradesh will feature eight candidates. Surat Lok Sabha constituency in Gujarat is excluded from this count as the election there was uncontested.

The Election Commission reported a total of 2963 nominations filed for 95 parliamentary constituencies (including Betul Lok Sabha constituency) in the third phase. The deadline for filing nominations was April 19, and the last date for withdrawal was April 22. Following scrutiny, 1563 nominations were deemed valid. Gujarat had the highest number of nominations, with 658 filed for 26 parliamentary constituencies. However, with the Surat seat being uncontested, voting will take place on only 25 seats in Gujarat in this phase. Maharashtra saw 519 nominations for 11 parliamentary constituencies, with the highest, 77, filed in the Osmanabad region. Chhattisgarh's Laspur parliamentary constituency received 68 nomination forms.

The second phase of voting for the Betul Lok Sabha seat in Madhya Pradesh, originally scheduled for April 26, was postponed due to the death of BSP candidate Ashok Bhalawi. The election for this seat will now take place in the third phase on May 7.

Voting in this phase will occur in the following seats:

• Assam: Kokrajhar (ST), Dhubri, Barpeta, Guwahati.
• Bihar: Jhanjharpur, Supaul, Araria, Madhepura, Khagaria.
• Chhattisgarh: Surguja (ST), Raigarh (ST), Janjgir-Champa (SC), Korba, Bilaspur, Durg, Raipur.
• Goa: North Goa, South Goa.
• Gujarat: Kutch (SC), Banaskantha, Patan, Mahesana, Sabarkantha, Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad East, Ahmedabad West (SC), Surendranagar, Rajkot, Porbandar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Amreli, Bhavnagar, Anand, Kheda, Panchmahal, Dahod (ST), Vadodara, Chhotaudepur (ST), Bharuch, Bardoli (ST), Navsari, Balsad (ST).
• Karnataka: Chikkodi, Belgaum, Bagalkot, Bijapur (SC), Gulbarga (SC), Raichur (ST), Bidar, Koppal, Bellary (ST), Haveri, Dharwad, Uttara Kannada, Davanagere, Shimoga.
• Madhya Pradesh: Morena, Bhind (SC), Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Vidisha, Bhopal.
• Maharashtra: Raigarh, Baramati, Osmanabad, Latur (SC), Sholapur (SC), Madha, Sangli, Satara, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Kolhapur, Hatkanangle.
• Uttar Pradesh: Sambhal, Hathras (SC), Agra (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Badaun, Aonla, Bareilly.
• West Bengal: Malda North, Malda South, Jangipur, Murshidabad.
• Daman and Diu: Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu (ST).
• Jammu and Kashmir: Anantnag-Rajouri.

Voting will take place from 07:00 am to 06:00 pm, except in Assam where it will end at 05:00 pm. Voting in some assembly constituencies of Khagaria and Madhepura seats of Bihar will conclude at 4:00 pm.