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Mumbai/Lucknow: Campaigning for the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections ended on Saturday evening. In the fifth phase, voting is to be held on May 20 for 49 Lok Sabha seats in six states and two union territories. In this phase, voting will also take (stake) place in two ‘high profile’ seats, Rae Bareli and Amethi, from where former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Smriti Irani are in the fray respectively. 22 candidates are in the fray in Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir. Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah is also contesting from this seat and on the last day of campaigning, he did a road show in Soibug village of central Kashmir.
On Monday, voting will take place in 13 seats of Maharashtra, 14 of Uttar Pradesh, seven of West Bengal, five of Bihar, three of Jharkhand, five of Odisha and one seat each of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Campaigning has also ended in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha, where BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik is among the candidates.
Over 40 of the seats going to polls in the fifth phase were with the National Democratic Alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders emphasised on issues of appeasement, dynastic politics, Ram temple, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), corruption and welfare schemes of his government.
During the campaign, PM Modi claimed, “If Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress come to power, they will send Ram Lalla back to the tent and bulldozer the temple.” He also alleged that the opposition wants to bring back the repealed Article 370.
The Congress and other constituents of the ‘India’ alliance accused the BJP of polarising voters through its “Hindu-Muslim politics” and not focusing on issues like unemployment and inflation. They were also aggressive on the issues of reservation and protection of the Constitution.
The Election Commission had on Tuesday said it hoped that star campaigners, especially from national parties, would set an example in the remaining three phases of the Lok Sabha elections and not spoil the social fabric.
Several Union ministers included in the fifth phase
Other prominent candidates in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections include several Union ministers including Rajnath Singh (Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh), Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North, Maharashtra), Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur, UP) and Shantanu Thakur (Bangaon, West Bengal), LJP (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan (Hajipur, Bihar), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan, Maharashtra) and BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy and RJD president Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya (both Saran, Bihar).
Rahul Gandhi, who is contesting from Wayanad in Kerala, is also contesting from Rae Bareli, the Nehru-Gandhi family bastion, which his mother Sonia Gandhi has been representing since 2004. BJP has fielded Uttar Pradesh minister Dinesh Pratap Singh from this seat.
Union Minister Smriti Irani is contesting in Amethi, while KL Sharma, a close aide of the Gandhi family, has been fielded by the Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is eyeing a fourth term from Lucknow. He is pitted against SP’s sitting MLA (from Lucknow Central) Ravidas Mehrotra.
In this phase in Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies Mohanlalganj (reserved), Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Amethi, Jalaun (reserved), Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (reserved), Barabanki (reserved), Faizabad, Kaiserganj, Gonda.
Other prominent candidates in the fifth phase include Union Minister Kaushal Kishore-Mohanlalganj, Union Minister Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma-Jalaun, Union Minister Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and MP Lallu Singh-Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.
Rajiv Pratap Rudy VS Rohini Acharya in Saran
Voting will also be held on Monday in Bihar’s five Lok Sabha seats Saran, Muzaffarpur, Hajipur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani, which will decide the electoral fate of 80 candidates.
On behalf of NDA, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held rallies in Hajipur, Saran and Muzaffarpur. Chirag Paswan is contesting from Hajipur, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates are in the fray on the remaining two seats.
In Saran, former Union Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy is pitted against Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Lalu Prasad’s daughter Rohini Acharya. Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have campaigned in favor of Rudy.
264 candidates in the fray on 13 seats in Maharashtra
The campaign ended at 6 pm on Saturday in 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of North Maharashtra and Mumbai Metropolitan Region. In this phase, 2.46 crore citizens are eligible to vote to decide the electoral fate of 264 candidates.
Union Minister and BJP leaders Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Bharti Pawar (Dindori) and Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi), Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), and Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad and BJP candidate and lawyer Ujjwal Nikam (Mumbai North Central seat) are among the prominent candidates in this phase.
Apart from these, voting will also take place in Dhule, Nashik, Thane, Palghar, Mumbai North West, Mumbai North East, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai South.
Voting will be held on seven Lok Sabha seats of West Bengal
