15 constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh where polling is scheduled on May 7 will end on Monday

Electioneering for the crucial fifth phase of the election in 15 constituencies in eastern Uttar Pradesh where polling is scheduled on May 7 will end on Monday

evening.

This phase of election would be a challenge for the Election Commission as 22 per cent of the total 243 candidates in the fray are of criminal background. Of them, 42 are facing serious crime charges including murders, attempt to murders and kidnapping  along with rape.Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, TV star and Rajya Sabha member Smriti Irani of the BJP, poet Kumar Viswas (all three from Amethi), BJP general secretary Varun Gandhi (Sultanpur), Union Steel Minister and Congress candidate Beni Prasad Verma(Gonda), UP Congress president Nirmal Khatri (Faizabad), and cricketer-turned politician and Congress candidate Mohammad Kaif(Phulpur) are the prominent candidates in the fray in the fifth phase. 

Criminal background candidates are SP’s Atiq Ahmed(Shravasti), Mirtasen Yadav(Faizabad), BSP’s Pawan Pandey(Sultanpur), Kalipmuni Kanwariya(Phulpur) and Jitendra Kumar Singh Babloo( Faizabad).   Campaigning in this phase has reached its crescendo even in the scorching heat the parties are leaving no stone un-turned to woo the voters. War of words between the Gandhi family and Narendra Modi and his aides were the highlight of this phase of electioneering with each trying to corner the opponents through personal attacks.  Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, Congress candidate from Gonda, has already been given last warning by the EC for his derogatory remarks.

The BJP led by PM candidate Narendra Modi has already campaigned in almost all the constituencies going to the polls on Wednesday. On Sunday, Modi addressed election meetings in Bhadoi  and Allahabad while on Monday he will address five meetings before the end of the campaign at Akbarpur, Faizabad, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh and Amethi.  Modi’s close aide Amit Shah also holdi four meetings in Ballia, Ghosi, Azamgarh and lalganj, while former UP CM Kalyan Singh addressed meetings at Ambedkarngar, Bansgaon and Deoria on Sunday. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi continued his Campaign in his own Amethi constituency for the second day on Sunday and will hold two maha-chaupals. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, sister of Rahul is also likely to accompany him in the campaign. Priyanka is camping in Amethi for the past one week and would stay there till the polling.

Similarly, SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav hold meetings at  Pratapgarh,Sultanpur and Amebedkharnagar on Sunday while his son and UP CM Akhilesh Yadav will hold election rallies at Mirzapur, Allahabad and Bhadoi. Mayawati also hold rallies at Sonebhadra and Jaunpur on Sunday. Several Bollywood stars have also campaigned in this phase in support of several candidates. Altogether there are around 2.52 crore electorate in this phase including 1.37 crore male, 1.14 crore females and 1446 others.

 There would be 25,857 polling booths in this phase. In the 2009 lok Sabha elections, Congress won highest seven seats in this phase followed by five by the BSP and remaining  three by SP candidates. BJP drew blank in this phase in the last elections.  Congress has given ticket to all the sitting members except for Sanjay Singh from Sultanpur as his wife Amita Singh is the Congress candidate from the seat this time.  BSP has given ticket to three sitting members while SP has fielded two sitting members. One of the sitting member of the SP Braj Bhushan Saran Singh has now switched over to the BJP and was contesting from Kaiserganj seat. There are 34 candidates in the fray form the prestigious Amethi seat where three EVMs would be used in each booths due to highest number of contestants. Sant Kabir Nagar seat has 25 candidates in the fray while Allahabad has 23 candidates. Minimum 10 candidates are in the fray from Bahriach seat.