Lok Sabha elections: BJP to defend 45 of 59 seats in penultimate phase

The penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections on Sunday will see 59 parliamentary constituencies spread over seven states going to the polls with the BJP having maximum at stake as it has to defend 45 seats it won in 2014.

BJP supporters, wearing masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: PTI

NEW DELHI: The penultimate phase of Lok Sabha elections on Sunday will see 59 parliamentary constituencies spread over seven states going to the polls with the BJP having maximum at stake as it has to defend 45 seats it won in 2014. Elections will be held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eights constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand. Over 10.17 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose among the 979 candidates in fray. The Election Commission has set up over 1.13 lakh polling stations for smooth conduct of polls. The key constituencies outside Delhi include Morena, Guna and Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, Sultanpur, Allahbad and Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, East Champaran in Bihar and Hisar, Sonipat and Rohtak in Hayrana. In 2014, the BJP had won seven of the eight seats in Bihar, eight of 10 in Haryana, all four in Jharkhand, seven of eight in Madhya Pradesh and 12 of 14 in Uttar Pradesh. It had won all the seven seats in Delhi. BJP's allies Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Apna Dal had won one seat each. The Congress had won two seats while the Samajwadi Party and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) had won one seat apiece. The Trinamool Congress had won all the eight seats going to the polls in the sixth phase in West Bengal. All seven parliamentary constituencies in Delhi will go to polls on Sunday. As many as 164 candidates are in fray in the polls, which are largely been seen as a three-way contest among the BJP, Congress and AAP. In Uttar Pradesh, the candidates whose electoral fate will be decided include SP president Akhilesh Yadav and Union minister Maneka Gandhi. Of the 14 constituencies going to polls in the state, the BJP had won 13 in 2014 with Azamgarh being the only exception from where SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav had been victorious. In Haryana, Union ministers Krishan Pal Gurjar and Rao Inderjit Singh are seeking re-election while former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is once again entering the race to the lower house. In West Bengal, seats where elections will be held on Sunday are Tamluk, Kanthi, Ghatal, Jhargram (ST), Medinipur, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur (SC). All these seats were won by the TMC in 2014. In Jharkhand, four Lok Sabha seats will go to polls. A total 66,85,401 voters of Giridih, Dhanbad, Jamshedpur and Singhbhum (ST) constituencies are eligible to decide the fate of 67 candidates in Sunday's election. Eight seats in Bihar will go to polls on Sunday. All of these were won by the NDA in 2014. While Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP holds the Vaishali seat, the remaining were won by the BJP. Eight Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, which includes Bhopal constituency where senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh is locked in a battle with BJP nominee and Malegaon blast accused Pragya Singh Thakur, will also go to polls on Sunday. While seven of these seats were won by the BJP in 2014, the Guna constituency was won by the Congress. Guna, one of the high-profile seats in this phase, would seal the fate of AICC general secretary and Congress candidate Jyotiraditya Scindia. (With inputs from agencies)