Eight Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh went to polls in the first phase, with another eight set to vote in the second phase on April 26. The 2019 elections were largely bipolar, with the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contesting together. However, this year’s election is expected to be a three-cornered contest after Mayawati decided to go alone.
A total of 91 candidates are in the fray for the second phase, covering Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Aligarh, Mathura, and Bulandshahr seats.
Key seats to watch out for in the second phase include Amroha, Meerut, Mathura, and Ghaziabad.
In Amroha, BSP’s winning candidate from 2019, Danish Ali, is now contesting on a Congress ticket against BJP’s Kanwar Singh Tanwar and BSP’s Mujahid Hussain.
In Meerut, the BJP has replaced three-time MP Rajendra Agarwal with actor Arun Govil, who played Lord Ram in the popular TV serial ‘Ramayan’. The BJP had a narrow victory in 2019, winning by a margin of 5,000 votes against the SP-BSP-RLD alliance. This time, both Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have fielded Hindu candidates in a seat where Muslims constitute 36% of the population.
In Mathura, the BJP has fielded two-time sitting MP Hema Malini. The actor-turned-politician faces challenge from OBC leader Mukesh Dhangar of the Congress and Chaudhary Suresh Singh of the BSP.
In Ghaziabad, Mayawati has fielded Nandkishore Pundhir to capitalize on the resentment among the Rajput community against the BJP. The Congress has fielded Dolly Sharma from the seat.
The poll campaigning for the second phase ended on Wednesday evening with leaders of all the major political parties criss-crossing the constituencies, garnering support for their candidates.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who kicked off a huge political firestorm with controversial speech in Rajasthan’s Banswara, repeated the allegations in his rallies that the Congress was planning to redistribute the people’s property if it is voted to power. However, in Aligarh, a constituency with a sizeable Muslim population, stopped short of saying that the wealth would go to Muslims.
The results of the second phase of polling will be declared on May 23.
