NEW DELHI: Indian elections are set to enter a crucial stage from now with 311 of the Lok Sabha’s 543 seats still to be decided, 117 of them to be put to vote on Thursday.

With a bulk of votes still to be cast, a majority of candidates are to test their luck in the remaining four stages. Key contests on Thursday will feature actor Hema Malini in Mathura. On April 30, Sonia Gandhi will fight from Rae Bareli and Narendra Modi tackles a weak Congress opposition same day in Vadodra in Gujarat, one of two constituencies from where he is contesting.

On May 7, Rahul Gandhi will figure in the Amethi race and finally on May 12, the last day of the polls, Narendra Modi’s fortunes will be tested in Varanasi against newcomer Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party. All the big races are being held in the main battleground of Uttar Pradesh.

The initial Modi juggernaut, largely assisted by a communal polarisation in western Uttar Pradesh, is now seen as abating. An indication of some insecurities gripping the Modi camp have surfaced in the form of stepped up hate speeches delivered by candidates and campaigners.

Physical assaults have increased with AAP candidates the worst casualty. AAP candidates are the least protected and most vulnerable of the main political parties in the fray. On Wednesday, AAP’s former law minister in Delhi Somnath Bharti was beaten by alleged Bharatiya Janata Party workers after he had spoken to a TV channel on the banks of the Ganga river in Varanasi.

The Congress campaign too has perked up and its star crowd-puller Priyanka Gandhi on Wednesday took on Mr. Modi frontally by raking up the “snoopgate” controversy surrounding him. She said leaders who indulge in wrong acts against women should be “thrown out.”

Mr. Modi was said to be the main character in a sting operation on whose instructions a young woman was shadowed by all sections of the security forces in Gujarat, including the anti-terror squads. Mr Rahul Gandhi has raised the issue of Mr Modi’s allegedly abandoned wife of 20 years being reclaimed by the frontrunner in the prime ministerial race.

Campaigning for her mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi exhorted the electorate to reject divisive politics and those persons who believe in concentrating all powers with themselves.

She observed that the standards of election campaigning had deteriorated, and deplored personal attacks, saying: “This is not politics.”

She told a gathering of women to make political leaders answerable and ask: “If you are talking about empowering us (women), tell us how will you do that. If you are talking about empowering us (women), then do not listen to our phone conversations behind closed doors.”

Even though she did not name Mr. Modi, the reference was clearly to the Gujarat Chief Minister who has been surrounded by a controversy over snooping of a young woman in the state allegedly at his behest.

She then went on to add: “If there are such political leaders who indulge in wrong acts against women, they should be thrown out of parties.”

The Congress’ star campaigner, who has been camping Rae Bareli, said the leaders should be asked what they are doing for empowering women.

“When there is talk about women’s empowerment, you must have seen, a lot of leaders come and speak on the issue. It is always about the role of a woman as mother, sister, daughter or wife. This is fine. I too am a mother, sister, daughter and wife. But that is not our astitva (existence). We are nari (women) and that is our existence,” she said.