The fifth phase polling in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh on Monday will witness a clash of titans, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Smriti Irani, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP had won 12 of these 14 parliamentary seats in the 2014 general election with Congress being limited to two constituencies — Rae Bareli from where the then Congress chief Sonia Gandhi was elected by a huge margin, and Amethi, where the present Congress president Rahul Gandhi had comfortable defeated Smriti Irani.
Around 2.47 crore people are eligible to vote in Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj (SC), Lucknow, Banda, Fatehpur, Kaushambi (SC), Barabanki (SC), Faizabad, Bahraich (SC), Kaiserganj and Gonda constituencies on Monday where 182 candidates are in the contest.
The Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting on five seats — Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Mohanlalganj, Fatehpur and Kaisarganj. Its ally Samajwadi Party is fighting for seven seats — Lucknow, Banda, Kaushambi, Barabanki, Faizabad, Bahraich and Gonda.
In Amethi and Rae Bareli, the SP-BSP alliance has not put up any candidate, leaving the two constituencies for the Congress.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is seeking re-election from Lucknow, while his colleague at the Centre Smriti Irani is again taking on Rahul Gandhi in Amethi.
In Faizabad parliamentary constituency, under which the temple town of Ayodhya falls, sitting BJP MP Lallu Singh is taking on Nirmal Khatri of the Congress. Khatri is a former Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief.
Former Union minister and Congress candidate Jitin Prasada is contesting from Dhaurahra against former Chambal brigand Malkhan Singh, 76, who has been fielded by Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) floated by SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s brother Shivpal Singh Yadav.
BJP chief Amit Shah along with a host of party leaders had held a roadshow in Amethi, seeking support for Smriti Irani while Bollywood actor Sonakshi Sinha, daughter of SP candidate from Lucknow Poonam Sinha, took part in a roadshow in the state capital.
Poonam Sinha’s husband, actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is the Congress candidate from Patna Sahib, had joined her last month when she filed her nomination papers as the Samajwadi Party candidate.
UP’s Chief Electoral Officer L Vekanteshwarlu said here on Sunday that polling parties were being dispatched to their respective booths since Sunday morning.
He said efforts were on to provide all basic facilities to the voters during the polling period in all the polling booths. “The poll preparedness has been smooth and the district authorities have made all arrangement along with publicity to increase the voting percentage,” he said.
Over 200 companies of central forces have been deployed for free and fair polling.
