High-voltage campaign for 5th phase LS polls in U.P. ends

Campaigning for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections for 14 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh ended amid roadshows and public meetings of various political parties on Saturday. The high-profile Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi and Faizabad constituencies are to be watched out in this phase voting for which will be held on Monday.

The prestige of Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as well Union minister Kaushal Kishore, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and BP Verma is at stake.

The 14 constituencies that will go to on May 20 are Lucknow, Mohanlalganj (SC), Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (SC), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Kaisarganj and Gonda. These seats are spread from central Uttar Pradesh to east UP and Bundelkhand region of the state.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP had won 13 out of these 14 seats, giving a jolt to the Congress by wresting its bastion Amethi where BJP candidate Smriti Irani had defeated Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. However, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had won from family pocket borough Rae Bareli seat. There are 144 candidates in fray in these 14 constituencies. A total 2,71,36,366 voters, including 1,44,05097 males, 1,27,30,186 females and 1080 transgenders, will exercise their franchise in the fifth phase poll.

Addressing rallies in U.P., PM Narendra Modi exuded confidence that his party will score a hat-trick in the Lok Sabha elections. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “INDIA bloc will win maximum seats in the fifth phase and regain its hold in Bundelkhand and central U.P.”

The BJP gave tickets to 11 of its sitting MPs in this phase, while it fielded new candidates in Barabanki (SC) and Kaisarganj. In the INDIA bloc, the Congress has fielded K L Sharma from Amethi, Tanuj Punia from Barabanki (SC) and Pradeep Jain ‘Aditya’ from Jhansi. The Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates are in the fray on the rest of the seats of the fifth phase.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh is eyeing a third term from Lucknow. He is up against sitting SP MLA Ravidas Mehrotra. From Amethi, Union minister Smriti Irani is again in the fray. In Kaisarganj, the contest is between BJP’s Karan Bhushan Singh and SP’s Bhagat Ram.

In Faizabad seat (which covers Ayodhya), the contest is mainly between sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh and Awadhesh Prasad, the SP MLA from Milkipur (SC) assembly constituency of Ayodhya. In Hamirpur, the fight is between BJP’s Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel and SP’s Ajendra Singh Lodhi.

In Gonda, BJP’s Kirti Vardhan Singh, who is eyeing a fifth term, is facing a contest from SP’s Shreya Verma. The main contest in Banda is between BJP’s RK Singh Patel and SP’s Krishna Devi Shivshankar Patel. Vinod Kumar Sonkar, who is eyeing a hat-trick of Lok Sabha wins, will be facing SP’s Pushpendra Saroj, son of SP leader Indrajeet Saroj, in Kaushambi (SC) seat.

The campaign for this phase saw leaders of various parties attacking and counter-attacking one another. On May 17, PM Modi claimed that the Congress and the SP will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected and asked them to “take lessons” from CM Yogi Adityanath on where to use bulldozers. The PM addressed public meetings in Barabanki, Fatehpur and Hamirpur.

He accused the opposition INDIA bloc of planning to give their “vote bank” a big chunk of reservation in government jobs and education meant for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Home minister Amit Shah on May 12 launched a blistering attack on the Gandhi family in its Rae Bareli bastion, accusing Sonia Gandhi of “spending more than 70 per cent of her MP funds on minorities”.

Shah spoke at meetings in Rae Bareli, Pratapgarh and Gonda. On May 17, Shah attacked Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi for calling Rae Bareli a “family seat”. He also made a scathing attack on the Congress for turning down invitations for Ram Mandir’s ‘Pran Pratishtha’ in Ayodhya, and said if the Congress came to power, they would put the “Babri lock” in the temple again.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi said on May 17 that she was giving her son to the people of Rae Bareli. “Rahul will not disappoint you,” she said as Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra stood by her side on the stage.

Speaking before his mother, Rahul Gandhi said the “youth across the country have made up their mind that they don’t want Narendra Modi” and asserted that the INDIA alliance government will be formed after June 4.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on May 17 hit back at PM Modi over his “khata-khat” jibe at the SP and the Congress, and said the public was now going to remove him from the top post “fata-fatt, fata-fatt, fata-fatt (quickly)”.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh on May 17 said PoK “was, is and will remain ours”. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on May 15 announced if the INDIA bloc was voted to power, it will double the quantity of free ration provided by the BJP government to the poor. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and BSP chief Mayawati also campaigned for their party candidates. ( With agency inputs )