Lucknow: About 58 per cent polling was recorded for the fifth round in Uttar Pradesh on Monday, May 6. The 14 constituencies where the polling was held included Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj and Gonda. These seats are spread over central, Bundelkhand and eastern UP. The round featured seats from where political bigwigs such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Rajnath Singh were in the fray. In 2014, the BJP had won all seats except Rae Bareli and Amethi, from where Sonia and Rahul were the victors. For the BJP, it is a challenge to repeat its performance as this time around, the Congress and the alliance comprising SP-BSP-RLD expected to do well in most seats.
The Congress pinned hopes apart from Sonia and Rahul, on Jitin Prasada from Dhaurahra, Kaiser Jahan (formerly in BSP) from Sitapur, Savitri Bai Phule (formerly in BJP) from Bahraich and Tanuj Punia (son of former MP PL Punia) from Barabanki. The veterans from the BJP in the fray in this round were Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur, Lalloo Singh from Faizabad, Kaushal Kishore from Mohanlalganj, Kirti Vardhan Singh from Gonda and Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh from Kaiserganj.
The SP-BSP-RLD alliance is banking on a mix of reshuffling of its candidates and some turncoats. In Sitapur, after the erstwhile MP Kaiser Jahan of the BSP defected to the Congress last year, the party put up Nakul Dubey, belonging to Lucknow, as its candidate. In Banda, the SP was banking on Shyama Charan Gupta, the former BJP MP from Allahabad, as its candidate. The Lucknow seat has been with the BJP since 1991, with former PM AB Vajpayee representing it for five terms (1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004) while Lalji Tandon won in 2009. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh won in 2014, and is now being challenged by Poonam Sinha of the SP and Acharya Pramod Krishnam of the Congress.
In Amethi, Congress President Rahul Gandhi faces a stiff challenge from Union Minister Smriti Irani of the BJP, who had lost by one lakh votes in 2014. This time around, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has devoted a lot of time to Amethi to ensure a smooth win for brother. In Rae Bareli, Sonia faces a challenge from her erstwhile confidante Dinesh Pratap Singh who recently joined the BJP.
5th round ends; UP registers 58 percent
Lucknow: About 58 per cent polling was recorded for the sixth round of Lok Sabha election in Uttar Pradesh on Monday 6 May. The 14 constituencies where polling was held included Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich, Kaiserganj and Gonda. These seats are spread over central, Bundelkhand and eastern part of the state. The round features seats from where political bigwigs such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Rajnath Singh are in the frayinn the 2014 election, the Bharatiya Janata Party had won all seats except Rae Bareli and Amethi, from where Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi had won. For the BJP, it is a challenge to repeat its performance as this time, the Congress and the alliance comprising Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal expect to do well in many seats.
The Congress has pinned its hope, besides Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, on Jitin Prasada from Dhaurahra, Kaiser Jahan (formerly of BSP) from Sitapur, Savitri Bai Phule (formerly of BJP) from Bahraich and Tanuj Punia (son of former MP PL Punia) from Barabanki. The veterans from the BJP in the fray in this round are Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Niranjan Jyoti from Fatehpur, Lalloo Singh from Faizabad, Kaushal Kishore from Mohanlalganj, Kirti Vardhan Singh from Gonda and Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh from Kaiserganj.
The SP-BSP alliance is banking on a mix of reshuffling of its candidates and some turncoats. In Sitapur, after the erstwhile MP Kaiser Jahan of BSP defected to Congress last year, the party has put up Nakul Dubey, belonging to Lucknow, as its candidate. In Banda, the SP is depending on Shyama Charan Gupta, the former BJP MP from Allahabad, as its candidate. The Lucknow seat has been with the BJP since 1991, with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee representing it for five terms (1991, 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004) while Lalji Tandon won in 2009. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh won the seat in 2014, and is now being challenged by Poonam Sinha of the SP and Acharya Pramod Krishnam of the Congress.
In Amethi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi faces a stiff challenge from Union Minister Smriti Irani of the BJP, who had lost by about 1 lakh votes in 2014, giving a scare to the Congress. This time Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has devoted quite a lot of time to Amethi to ensure a smooth win for her brother. In Rae Bareli, Sonia Gandhi faces a challenge from her erstwhile confidante Dinesh Pratap Singh who recently joined the BJP.
