NEW DELHI : The penultimate phase of the polling on Saturday for the 7-phase Lok Sabha elections will seal the electoral fate of many BJP leaders, including Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Rao Inderjit Singh, business tycoon Navin Jindal and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar. As many as 889 candidates are in the fray in 58 parliamentary constituencies spread across 8 states and UTs. The stakes are high for the BJP in the seven constituencies of national Capital in which party has chosen six new faces against Congress-AAP candidates.
Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan is pitted against BJD’s Pranab Prakash Das from the Sambalpur LS seat. Another Union minister Rao Inderjit Singh is fighting from Gurgaon seat in Haryana. Former Haryana CM Khattar is contesting from Karnal, former Union minister Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur in UP and steel tycoon Naveen Jindal from Kurukshetra.
PDP leader and former CM J&K Mehbooba Mufti is contesting from Anantnag-Rajouri, Bhojpuri-actor turned politician Dinesh Lal Nirahua from Azamgarh in UP, former judge Abhijeet Gangopadhyay from West Bengal’s Tamluk LS seat and actor-turned politician Manoj Tiwari from Delhi North East while lawyer-turned-politician Bansuri Swaraj is a BJP candidate from New Delhi.
Over 11.13 crore voters -- 5.84 crore male, 5.29 crore female and 5120 third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise. The Election Commission has deployed around 11.4 lakh polling officials at 1.14 lakh polling stations. With large parts of India under a heat wave, the EC has directed election officials and state machinery to take adequate measures to manage the adverse impact of hot weather.
The poll panel also urged voters to come out in greater numbers and vote with responsibility and pride. It particularly reminded voters in urban centres like Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad about their “right and duty to vote and break the trend of urban apathy”. The fifth phase saw a voter turnout of 62.2 per cent in the 49 seats that went to polls on May 20.
In West Bengal, voting will be held in the tribal belt Jangal Mahal region, spanning five districts. A hotspot for identity politics, the region sends eight representatives to Lok Sabha from Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. Out of the eight seats, the BJP won five and TMC bagged three in the 2019 polls.
Soumendu Adhikari, the brother of Suvendu Adhikari, has been fielded from Kanthi, considered the backyard of the senior BJP leader. In Tamluk, former judge of Calcutta High Court Abhijit Gangopadhyay is fighting on a BJP ticket against TMC’s young turk Debangshu Bhattacharya, known for composing the “Khela Hobe” song for the party in the 2021 assembly polls. The seats going to the polls in Uttar Pradesh are Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi.
From Sultanpur, BJP candidate Maneka Gandhi is seeking her ninth entry into the Lok Sabha. The former Union minister is up against the Samajwadi Party’s Ram Bhual Nishad and the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) Uday Raj Verma.
In Azamgarh, incumbent MP Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua will be hoping to retain the seat for the BJP against the Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav. Jaunpur will witness former Maharashtra minister Kripashankar Singh of the BJP take on Samajwadi Party candidate Babu Singh Khushwaha and the incumbent MP Shyam Singh Yadav of the BSP.
Around 82.16 lakh voters, including 40.09 lakh females, are eligible to exercise their franchise in Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Jamshedpur constituencies of Jharkhand. From Ranchi, Congress’s Yashaswini Sahay, daughter of former Union minister Subodh Kant Sahay, is contesting against the BJP’s MP Sanjay Seth. Dhanbad is heading for a direct fight between BJP’s Baghmara MLA Dulu Mahato and Congress’s Anupama Singh, wife of Kumar Jaimangal.
Prominent candidates
Fighting out the Lok Sabha poll battle in this phase are prominent names — Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Rao Inderjit Singh and Krishan Pal Gurjar, BJP’s Maneka Gandhi, Sambit Patra, Manohar Lal Khattar and Manoj Tiwari, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti and Deepender Singh Hooda, Raj Babbar and Kanhaiya Kumar of the Congress.
Bihar
Total seats: 40 Seats in 6th phase: 8
Around 1.5 crore voters will decide the fate of 86 candidates in the fray in Valmikinagar, Paschim Champaran, Purvi Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Maharajganj, Vaishali and Sheohar seats. JD (U) has fielded candidates on four seats including Sheohar, which was won by BJP last time. On the other hand, BJP is contesting three of the eight seats. Chirag Paswan’s LJP (RV) has fielded its candidate on one seat. From opposition ‘INDIA’ bloc, RJD is contesting election on five seats, Congress on two seats and VIP) one seat.
Jharkhand
Total seats: 14 Seats in 6th phase: 4
Voting will take place in Giridih, Dhanbad, Ranchi and Jamshedpur constituencies on Saturday. Despite being a Kurmi (backward) dominated region, Dhanbad, for the first time is witnessing a contest between a forward and backward candidate after BJP fielded sitting Baghmara MLA Dhulu Mahto as an experiment to lure the Kurmi community while the Congress has fielded Anupama Singh, wife of the sitting Bremo MLA Jaimangal Singh. Interestingly, both the candidates are banking on caste equations.
Odisha
Total seats: 21 Seats in 6th phase: 6
Six parliamentary constituencies—Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Dhenkanal, Keonjhar, Puri and Sambalpur—along with 42 assembly seats coming under these Lok Sabha segments will go for polls in the third phase in Odisha and sixth phase in India. To ensure smooth conduct of elections, five IPS officers of ASP rank have been mobilized for Sambalpur, Khurda, Keonjhar and Cuttack districts while 42 Assembly Supervising Officers in the rank of additional SP with striking force, poll office said.
West bengal
Total seats: 42 Seats in 6th phase: 6
In the 8 constituencies going to the polls, the BJP is trying hard to retain its larger share of five seats. Nandigram, which is a part of the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, is also voting. The situation in the area became tense a couple of days ago when a BJP supporter was killed in a clash. The Jangal Mahal tribal region consisting of five districts will also vote. The region comprises Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram, Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura, and Bishnupur seats. In 2019, the BJP won five and TMC three. As many as 1.45 crore voters, including 73.63 lakh men, 71.70 lakh women, and 133 people of the third gender, are eligible to vote.
Delhi
Total seats: 7 Seats in 6th phase: 7
In 7 parliamentary constituencies of the national capital, there are 162 candidates in the fray, including Manoj Tiwari, and Bansuri Swaraj of BJP, Somnath Bharti and Kuldeep Kumar of Aam Aadmi Party, and Kanhaiya Kumar and JP Agarwal of Congress. A total of 1.52 crore voters are eligible to vote. Police said a large force will be stationed at various locations on the polling day. The candidates of all the major parties had been rigorously campaigning in the city for the past 83 days and seeking votes for themselves. The city this time witnessed a unique election campaign that ended on Thursday evening.
Haryana
Total seats: 10 Seats in 6th phase: 10
Voting in 10 Lok Sabha constituencies and for the Karnal assembly bypoll will take place on Saturday. The fate of 223 candidates, including former CM Manohar Lal Khattar and Congress’ Kumari Selja, will be decided A four-cornered contest involving the ruling BJP, Congress, INLD and Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) is on the horizon. The Congress has allied with AAP for the first time. Congress will contest 9 seats while AAP will fight from Kurukshetra. INLD’s Abhay Chautala is contesting from Kurukshetra against Sushil Gupta of INDIA bloc. Naveen Jindal is the BJP candidate. The police said over 35,000 cops would be deployed
Uttar pradesh
Total seats: 80 Seats in 6th phase: 14
The second last leg of UP elections over 14 seats are steeped deep into Purvanchal of Uttar Pradesh embellished with legacies of some prominent figures and marked by pervasive influence of mafia and musclemen in the poll process. This penultimate phase encompasses 14 constituencies including Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkarnagar, Shrawasti, Dumariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj (SC), Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr (SC), and Bhadohi.
J&K
Total seats: 1 Seats in 6th phase: 1
After the record voter turnout in Srinagar and Baramulla Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, it now remains to be seen whether the poll percentage in Anantnag-Rajouri seat will also follow the trend and experience the record voter turnout of post or pre-militancy era. A total of 20 candidates are in the fray but the main contest is between PDP’s Mehbooba Mufti, NC’s Gujjar leader Mian Altaf and Apni Party’s Pahari leader Zafar Manhas.
With inputs from Ramashankar, Mukesh Ranjan, Sulagna Sengupta, Harpreet Bajwa, Namita Bajpai and Fayaz Wani