2019 LS Polls, Phase 2: BJP faces tough battle against SP-BSP 'Mahagatbandhan', Congress for eight seats in UP

The phase 2 of polls in Western UP is holds great significance for the Narendra Modi-led BJP, which won all of these seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, along with its NADA ally Apna Dal, had swept the seat winning as many as 73 seats of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats.

The second phase of voting in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls on 95 parliamentary constituencies across 11 states and one Union territory got underway on Thursday. Among the states going to polls in the second phase, Uttar Pradesh, which has the maximum number of parliamentary seats (80), will witness polling for a total of eight seats.

Polling in the second phase shall seal the fate of 85 candidates contesting on different party symbols in the electronic voting machines.The Bharatiya Janata Party is in for a pitched battle against the Mahagathbandhan, the opposition's grand alliance stitched between Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party and the Indian National Congress.

The phase 2 of polls in Western UP is holds great significance for the Narendra Modi-led BJP, which won all of these seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The BJP, along with its NADA ally Apna Dal, had swept the seat winning as many as 73 seats of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats. The saffron party had also won all the seats that went to polls in phase 1, including Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bijnor, Meerut, Bhagpat, Gautam Buddh Nagar, and Ghaziabad, in 2014.

The state is primarily seeing a triangular contest between the BJP, Congress and the SP-BSP. The constituencies going to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election are Agra, Aligarh, Amroha, Bulandshahr, Fatehpur Sikri, Hathras, Mathura and Nagina.

Of total 85 candidates in the poll fray in UP, 19 of them have declared criminal cases lodged against them (about 23 per cent) -- as per their affidavits details -- while 14 have declared serious criminal cases, as per election watchdog ADR. Of all the candidates contesting polls, a total of 34 (about 41 per cent) are crorepatis.
While caste and communal politics always takes centre stage in the General Elections in UP, major issues of jobs, agri stress could swing votes in opposition parties' favour.

In UP, as part of the Mahagathbandhan alliance, Akhilesh Yadav's SP is fighting election in 37 seats while Mayawati's BSP has fielded its candidates on 38 seats. Their ally Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal, is fighting on three seats. Both SP and BSP will this time try to corner BJP by consolidating Yadav-Muslim and Dalit votes. The Congress, while part of Mahagathbandan, is fighting alone in the state.

Some high profile seats going for the poll in the phase two are Fatehpur Sikri, Agra, Mathura, Aligarh and Nagina. The battle for a total of 543 seats had started with elections in 91 constituencies across 20 states on April 11. The final vote count will be done May 23.