Lok Sabha elections: In Uttar Pradesh, BJP faces tough SP-BSP challenge on these seats in phase 4

The battle for central Uttar Pradesh was comprehensively won by the BJP in 2014 winning 12 out of these 13 seats.

The political landscape of north India has changed with arch rivals Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party, without the Congress, stitching a 'Mahagathbandan' alliance to take on the BJP. (PTI PHOTO)

NEW DELHI: Out of the 13 phase-IV seats in Uttar Pradesh going to the polls on April 29, the Bharatiya Janata Party faces tough challenge from the Samajwadi Party- Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) grand alliance or 'mahagathbandhan'(MGB) on seven seats. Six of these seven seats were won by the BJP in 2014. If the votes polled by SP and BSP in last Lok Sabha elections are taken into account, the BJP falls short of numbers in Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Misrikh, Etawah and Jhansi. Kannauj -- the seventh seat dominated by MGB -- is already in the SP's kitty as Dimple Yadav won from here with narrow margin but with the BSP's support, the SP can widen its lead. The BJP, on the other, is placed comfortably beyond the opposition alliance's striking range in Unnao, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun and Hamirpur. If the support base of SP and BSP remains intact, the BJP can lose six seats in Phase-IV from its impressive tally of 71 out of 80 in 2014. The battle for central Uttar Pradesh was comprehensively won by the BJP in 2014 winning 12 out of these 13 seats. With the Congress and SP's breakaway Shivpal Yadav's Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) in fray separately, the fight becomes multi-cornered. A detailed constituency analysis of Phase IV UP seats: Shahjahanpur in 2014 Winner: Krishna Raj (BJP); votes polled 525,132 Umed Singh Kshyap (BSP); 289,603 Mithilesh Kumar (SP); 242,913 (SP+BSP = 532,516) Candidates in 2019 Arun Kumar Sagar: BJP Brahm Swaroop Sagar: UPA Amar Chandra Jauhar: MGB Narveer Fauji: PDA (Shivpal Yadav's alliance) Kheri in 2014 Winner: Ajay Kumar (BJP); 398,578 Arvind Giri (BSP); 288304 Ravi Prakash Verma (SP), 160,112 (SP+BSP) = 4,48,426 Candidates in 2019 Ajay Kumar Mishara: BJP Zafar Ali Naqvi: UPA Dr. Purvi Verma: MGB Shri Krishna Verma: PDA Hardoi in 2014 Winner: Anshul Verma (BJP) 360,501 Usha Verma (SP) 276,543 Shive Prasad Verma (BSP) 279,158 (SP+BSP)= 555,701 Candidates in 2019 Jai Prakash: BJP Virendra Kumar Verma: UPA Usha Verma: MGB Sanjay Bhartiya: PDA Misrikh in 2014 Winner: Anju Bala (BJP); 412,575 Ashok Kumar Rawat (BSP); 325,212 Jai Prakash (SP); 194,759 (SP+BSP) = 519971 Candidates in 2019 Ashok Kumar Rawat: BJP Manjari Rahi: UPA Dr. Neelu Satyarthi: MGB Arun Kumar Kori: PDA Unnao in 2014 Winner: Sakshi Maharaj (BJP); 518,834 Arun Shankar Shukla (SP); 208,661 Brajesh Pathak (BSP) 200,176 (SP+ BSP)= 408837 Candidates in 2019 Swami Sachhichidanand Hari Sakshi: BJP Anu Tandon: UPA Arun Kumar Shukla: MGB Satish Kumar Shukla: PDA Farrukhabad in 2014 Winner: Mukesh Rajput (BJP); 406,195 Rameshwar Singh Yadav (SP); 255,693 Jaiveer Singh (BSP); 114,521 (SP+BSP= 370,214) Candidates in 2019 Mukesh Rajput: BJP Salman Khurshid: UPA Manoj Agarwal: MGB Uday Pal Singh: PDA Etawah in 2014 Winner: Ashok Kumar Doharey (BJP); 439,646 Prem Das Katheriya (SP); 266,700 Ajay Pal Singh Jatav (BSP); 192,804 (SP+BSP) = 459,504 Candidates in 2019 Dr. Ram Shankar Katheriya: BJP Ashok Kumar Doharey: UPA Kamlesh Katheriya -- MGB Shambhu Dayal Dohare: PDA Kannauj in 2014 Winner: Dimple Yadav (SP); 489,164 Nirmal Tiwari (BSP); 127,785 Subrat Pathak (BJP); 469,257 (SP+BSP) = 616949 Contestants in 2019 Subrat Pathak: BJP UPA: No candidate Dimple Yadav: MGB PDA: No candidate Kanpur in 2014 Winner: MM Joshi (BJP); 474,712 Saleem Ahmad (BSP); 53,218 Surendra Mohan Agarwal (SP); 25,723 (SP+BSP) = 78941 Candidates in 2019 Satyadev Pachauri: BJP Sriprakash Jaiswal: UPA Ram Kumar: MGB PDA: No candidate Akbarpur in 2014 Winner: Devendra Singh (BJP); 481,584 Anil Shukla Warsi (BSP); 202,587 Lal Singh Tomar (SP); 147,002 (SP+BSP) = 349,589 Contestants in 2019 Devendra Singh Bhole: BJP Raja Ram Pal: UPA Nisha Sachan: MGB Mahendra Singh Yadav: PDA Jalaun in 2014 Winner: Bhanu Pratap Singh (BJP); 548,631 Brijlal Khabri (BSP); 261,429 Ghanshyam Anuragi (SP); 180,921 (SP+BSP)= 442,350 Contestants in 2019 Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma: BJP Brijlal Khabri: UPA Pankaj Singh: MGB PDA: No candidate Jhansi in 2014 Winner: Uma Bharti (BJP); 575,889 Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav (SP) 385,422 Anuradha Sharma (BSP); 213,792 (SP+BSP)= 599,214 Contestants in 2019 Anurag Sharma: BJP Shiv Sharan Singh: UPA Shyam Sundar Singh Yadav: MGB Jagat Vikram Singh Rajput: PDA Hamirpur in 2014 Kunwar Pushpendra Singh (BJP); 543,884 Bishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP); 187,096 Rakesh Kumar Goswami(BSP); 176,356 (SP+BSP) = 363,452 Contestants in 2019 Pushpendra Singh Chandel: BJP Pritam Lodhi: UPA Dilip Kumar Singh: MGB Arvind Kumar Prajapati: PDA