Fourteen out of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh are going to the polls on May 25 in the sixth phase of the General Election, including in the key constituencies of Sultanpur, Allahabad, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Azamgarh, and Bhadohi. The electoral campaign in the crucial State has reached its zenith, with senior leaders leaving no stone unturned in their campaigns. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and U.P. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the ruling BJP’s charge, with issues ranging from the allegedly Muslim-focused “appeasement politics” of the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) to the “abuse” of U.P.’s voters by the INDIA bloc.
The constituencies going to the polls are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Shrawasti, Basti, Janupur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Domariyaganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Bhadohiz, and Machhlishahr.
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In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, out of 14 seats, the BJP emerged victorious on 10, including in Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Basti, Allahabad, Domariyaganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Azamgarh, Bhadohi, and Machhlishahr.
Now, in 2024, the BJP’s Maneka Gandhi is facing Bhim Nishad of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Uday Raj Verma of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In Pratapgarh, the sitting BJP MP Sangam Lal Gupta is taking on the SP’s Shiv Pal Singh Patel.
The prestigious seat of Allahabad is witnessing a close contest between Neeraj Tripathi of the ruling party and Ujjwal Rewati Raman Singh of the Congress. In Ambedkar Nagar, the BJP’s Ritesh Pandey is facing the SP’s Lalji Verma. Mr. Pandey won the 2019 election from the seat as a candidate of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
In Domariyaganj, Jagdambika Pal, a former U.P. CM from the BJP, is locked in a close contest with Bhishma Shankar Tiwari of the SP and Khwaja Shamsuddin of the BSP.
The Lok Sabha seat of Azamgarh, a stronghold of the SP with a sizeable Muslim-Yadav electorate, is witnessing Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ of the BJP taking on former Lok Sabha MP Dharmendra Yadav for the SP.
In Jaunpur, former Maharashtra Minister Kripashankar Singh of the BJP is competing against Babu Singh Kushwaha of the SP and Shyam Singh Yadav of the BSP. In Bhadohi, Vinod Kumar Bind from the BJP locked in a direct battle against Lalitesh Pati Tripathi of the Trinamool Congress (TMC).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his campaign, while pushing a U.P.-centric narrative, alleged that Opposition parties had remained silent when their south Indian allies abused and humiliated the people of U.P. “In the election, our country has two models — on one side the Modi [model], focused on santushtikaran (satisfaction) while on the other side, it is the SP, Congress and ghamandiya (selfish) alliance, based on tushtikaran (appeasement). The playbook of the SP and the Congress is dangerous. These people seek votes here, while in south India, their allies abuse and humiliate the people of U.P.,” Mr. Modi said in Janupur.
Mr. Modi claimed the opposition INDIA bloc would fail to win even a single seat in U.P., and pitched the election as an opportunity to elect a strong leader who could make the world aware of India’s strength. “The 2024 elections are an opportunity to choose the Prime Minister of the country — such a Prime Minister who runs a strong government that cannot be dominated by the world but that makes the world aware of India’s strength,” the PM said.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, mocked the slogan of ‘400 paar (cross 400)‘ continuously pitched by the BJP, claiming the ruling party would fail to cross 140 seats. “It seems that they (the BJP leaders) are raising the slogan of 400 paar because they want to change the Constitution given by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, but I can say with confidence that they will fail to cross 140 seats,” SP chief Mr. Akhilesh Yadav said in Bhadohi.
