Bharatiya Janata Party faces a tough challenge of defending its turf in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections in which 14 constituencies go to polls on Sunday.
The BJP had won 13 of these 14 seats in the 2014 election. With the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance in place this time, retaining these seats will be an uphill task for the BJP..
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is contesting from Azamgarh; The Congress has not fielded any candidate against him. In the adjoining Lalganj constituency, BJP candidate and present MP Neelam Sonkar is locked in a close contest with alliance candidate Seema Azad.
In Sultanpur, the contest is triangular with BJP leader Maneka Gandhi contesting against Congress’ old guard Sanjay Singh and alliance strongman Chandra Bhadra Singh.
In the Pratapgarh constituency, Rani Ratna Singh is contesting on Congress ticket against Apna Dal (Sonelal) candidate Sangamlal Gupta. Apna Dal (S) got this seat as part of the pre-poll alliance with the BJP. The SP-BSP alliance has fielded Ashok Kumar Tripathi while Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya’s party Jansatta Dal has fielded Akshay Pratap Singh from this seat.
The Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, which was won by SP-BSP joint candidate in March 2018 bypoll, will be a seat that the SP-BSP alliance will want to retain at any cost. This time the alliance has fielded Pandhari Yadav against BJP’s Keshri Patel. Congress has fielded Pankaj Niranjan from this seat.
In the neighbouring Allahabad constituency, once considered a Congress bastion, the grand old party has fielded turncoat Yogesh Shukla against UP Cabinet minister Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the BJP. The SP-BSP alliance has fielded Rajendra Patel from Allahabad.
Another important seat in the sixth phase is Ambedkar Nagar, which was once the home turf of BSP chief Mayawati. The seat was won by BJP’s Hariom Pandey in 2014. This time, the party has fielded Mukut Bihari Verma to placate the OBC Kurmi voters.
The Shrawasti constituency will witness a direct contest between the BJP and SP-BSP alliance. However, the Congress may spoil the game by cutting votes of either sides. The BJP has fielded its sitting MP Daddan Mishra while the SP-BSP alliance has pitted Ram Shiromani Verma against him. The Congress has given ticket to former MLA Dhirendra Pratap Singh.
In Dumariyaganj constituency, the BJP has once again given ticket to its sitting MP Jagdambika Pal. Aftab Alam is the alliance candidate while the Congress has fielded Chandresh Upadhyay from there.
In the adjoining Basti constituency, the BJP has once again shown confidence in its sitting MP Harish Dwivedi. The SP-BSP alliance has fielded Ram Prasad Chaudhary once again and the Congress has fielded turncoat Rajkishore Singh.
Another important seat, which holds strategic importance, is Sant Kabir Nagar. After controversy over the shoe-hurling incident in March, the BJP denied ticket to Sharad Tripathi and fielded turncoat and Gorakhpur MP Pravin Nishad from this seat. The Congress has fielded a turncoat, Bhalchandra Yadav, from Sant Kabir Nagar and the SP-BSP alliance has fielded Kushal Tiwari alias Bhishm Shankar, a Brahmin candidate.