With the voting over in Southern states, the focus of Lok Sabha election 2024 campaign has shifted to the Hindi heartland.
Top Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, will hold mega rallies in the next two days in Uttar Pradesh, the state where increasing the party’s majority from 62 seats (2019) is key to its third-term prospects.
As many as 41 seats of Uttar Pradesh will be voting in the remaining three phases of Lok Sabha Elections. Of these 14 seats each vote in the fifth and sixth phase on May 20 and 25. Thirteen remaining seats will vote in the last phase on June 1. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to Lok Sabha.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to address seven rallies in UP on May 16 and 17. He was in Varanasi on May 13 and 14 to fill his nomination for the seat he won twice in 2014 and 2019.
Purvanchal campaign on May 16
Today, May 16, the PM will address rallies in Pratapgarh, Lalganj (Azamgarh), Jaunpur’s Machhlishahr and Bhadohi. Polling in these Purvanchal-based constituencies will be held in the sixth phase on May 25. This will be PM Modi’s highest number of public meetings in UP in a single day.
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In Purvanchal region, the BJP is up against the Samajwadi Party- Congress combine of INDIA bloc. Barring Machhlishahr, the BJP lost the three other seats – Azamgarh, Lalganj and Jaunpur – to the SP-BSP combine in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Pratapgarh is next to Raebareli, the only Lok Sabha seat the Congress had won in Uttar Pradesh in 2019. Rahul Gandhi is up against BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh in Raebareli seat, going to polls in fifth phase on May 20 along with Amethi, Lucknow and Kaiserganj.
Rallies resume next day
The Prime Minister is scheduled to stay in Governor house Lucknow on Thursday night and will resume campaign by addressing three more rallies in Barabanki, Fatehpur and Hamirpur constituencies on Friday, May 17.
The PM is also scheduled to campaign in UP next week.
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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is also campaigning in the region ahead of next three phases of polling.
Among opposition leaders, Samajwadi party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj party chief Mayawati are also drumming up support for their candidates. Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is campaigning in Raebareli constituency and Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and senior Congress leader DK Shivakumar will also hold the press conference in Lucknow.
UP key for NDA’s 400 target
Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is also in Lucknow. He is also expected to address a joint conference with Akhilesh Yadav on May 16.
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The fate of 379 constituencies spread across 23 states and Union Territories is now decided after the commencement of polling in fourth phase on May 13. The remaining three phases of polling will be held on May 20, May 25 and June 1. The counting of votes for all seven phases of Lok Sabha Elections will take place on June 4.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which is seeking a record third term under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has set a target of winning 400 seats this election. The ruling alliance is challenged by the opposition parties led by the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc.
With 80 parliamentary seats, UP is key for NDA’s 400 seat target. The BJP won 62 of these seats in 2019 and 71 in 2014 general elections. The Congress has tied up with Samajwadi Party in UP.
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Published: 16 May 2024, 08:15 AM IST
