Lok Sabha elections 2019: Nine states go to polls in phase four today; Kanhaiya, Supriyo in fray

The seats that will be closely watched in the fourth phase are Jodhpur, where Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav Gehlot is contesting his maiden election against Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Begusarai, where CPI debutant and former JNU Students’ Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar will take on firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh.

How many constituencies are going to polls in the fourth phase?

Spread across nine states, polling will be held in 71 parliamentary constituencies. Five seats in Bihar, 17 in Maharashtra, 13 in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh each, six in Odisha and Madhya Pradesh each, eight in West Bengal, three in Jharkhand and one in Jammu and Kashmir are going to polls. While Maharashtra and Odisha will witness final polling in the state, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will vote for the first time.

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In J&K, polling will be held in Kulgam district, which is part of Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency. Anantnag Lok Sabha constituency is spread over four districts of Anantnag, Kulgam, Shopian and Pulwama with 16 assembly segments. The Lok Sabha polls to this constituency are being held in three phases due to security reasons.

In Maharashtra, where the election will come to end with this phase, the opposition Congress is facing a tough task of reclaiming its lost base in north Maharashtra and Mumbai, while the NCP is trying to get a foothold in Thane district and Western Maharashtra. The BJP and its ally Shiv Sena had won all 17 seats in 2014.

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In Rajasthan, where the BJP had won all the seats in 2014, the Congress appeared to make a comeback, forming the government in the state with a narrow majority after last year’s Assembly polls.

In Uttar Pradesh, most of these 13 seats are seeing a direct fight between the BJP and SP-BSP alliance with Kannauj being a matter of prestige for the SP. In West Bengal, all the eight seats, which are spread across four districts, will see a four-cornered contest between Trinamool Congress, BJP, Congress and the Left Front.

In Odisha, where the state’s ruling BJD won all six seats, the BJP is making concerted efforts to bag a few seats. In Bihar, the BJP and its allies are looking to retain all the five seats in the face of a spirited fight put up by the RJD-Congress alliance.

Who are the prominent candidates in fray in the fourth phase?

In the 13 constituencies of Uttar Pradesh that are going to polls, some of the prominent candidates in the race are Dimple Yadav, former Union ministers Salman Khurshid (Farrukhabd) and Sriprakash Jaiswal (Kanpur) of Congress, UP Cabinet minister Satyadev Pachauri (from Kanpur), Sakshi Maharaj of BJP (from Unnao), Annu Tandon of Congress (from Unnao). Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple is seeking re-election from Kannauj.

The fate of SS Ahluwalia and Babul Supriyo of the BJP and former Union minister Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Congress, will also be decided by about 12.79 core voters in the fourth phase. Prominent among the hopefuls also include BJP national vice-president Baijayant Panda (Kendrapara), who quit the BJD to join the party recently.

Union minister Subhash Bhamre, and Congress leaders Milind Deora and Urmila Matondkar are among the 323 candidates in the fray in this phase. Also important is the battle for Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav, pitted against sitting MP and Union minister of state Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

The cynosure of all eyes in this phase, however, is the Begusarai seat which will witness an electrifying contest between the political Left and the Right with CPI debutant Kanhaiya Kumar taking on firebrand BJP leader Giriraj Singh.

Results of previous polls

The stakes are high for the ruling BJP as it had swept 56 of these seats in 2014, leaving just two for the Congress and the rest for other opposition parties such as the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal.

Election to 542 Lok Sabha seats is being conducted in seven phases between April 11 and May 19. The election in Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu has been cancelled following excess use of money power. Results will be declared on May 23.

(With PTI inputs)