Voting for the fifth of seven phases of the Lok Sabha Elections started on Monday, 6 May, with polling being held in 51 constituencies spread across seven states.
The states where voters are casting their ballots are: Bihar (5 parliamentary constituencies), Jammu and Kashmir (2), Jharkhand (4), Madhya Pradesh (7), Rajasthan (12), Uttar Pradesh (14) and West Bengal (7).
A total of 674 candidates cutting across party lines are in the fray. Some of the key constituencies voting in this phase include Raebareli, where UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is contesting, and Amethi, where Congress President Rahul Gandhi is looking to edge past the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) Smriti Irani.
The fifth phase is seeing voting being held in:
State-wise List of Constituencies Voting in Phase 5 on 6 May
Bihar
Five parliamentary constituencies of the total 40 have gone to polls in the fifth phase of voting in Bihar.
Out of the five, the key contest is being fought in Muzaffarpur, as it threatens to unsettle the established political order in Bihar. Mukesh Sahni's VIP party is battling for the rights of the Mallah (boatman) community, which has long been pro-NDA.
The five seats voting in Bihar are:
- Sitamarhi
- Madhubani
- Muzaffarpur
- Saran
- Hajipur
Jammu and Kashmir
The state of Jammu and Kashmir is seeing two Lok Sabha constituencies going to polls.
The key contest is in Ladakh, geographically the largest Parliamentary constituency of India. In 2014, it was won by Thupstan Chhewang by just 36 votes. This time around, the seat could pose a tough challenge for the BJP as Chhewang had resigned from the party last year.
- Ladakh
- Anantnag (Shopian and Pulwama districts)
Jharkhand
Four seats are seeing voting in Jharkhand in the fifth phase. The Hazaribagh constituency, currently held by Union Minister Jayant Sinha, is expected to witness a close fight – with Congress’ Gopal Sahu and Communist Party of India’s Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta also in the fray.
- Kodarma
- Ranchi
- Khunti
- Hazaribagh
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh is a crucial state for the BJP this time around, for it lost the recent Assembly election here. In the fifth phase, a total of seven seats are up for grabs.
Out of the seven, the Satna Lok Sabha constituency is seeing the BJP trying to hold on to its bastion of over 20 years. This time as well, the BJP has fielded its incumbent MP Ganesh Singh, who has represented the seat since 2004.
- Tikamgarh
- Damoh
- Khajuraho
- Satna
- Rewa
- Hoshangabad
- Betul
Rajasthan
In 2014, the BJP had made a clean-sweep in Rajasthan. This time around, they are facing a much-tougher contest given the anti-incumbency factor at play, as observed in the recent Assembly elections.
A key contest is being fought on the Bikaner seat, that has seen a head-to-head contest between the BJP and the Congress since 1980. Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal represents this constituency. He had won in 2014 with a margin of over three lakh votes.
- Ganganagar
- Bikaner
- Churu
- Jhunjhunu
- Sikar
- Jaipur Rural
- Jaipur
- Alwar
- Bharatpur
- Karauli-Dholpur
- Dausa
- Nagaur
Uttar Pradesh
The BJP is facing a tough challenge from the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) on seven seats in Uttar Pradesh in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
Polling is being held in 14 seats, the highest so far in the state, in this phase. The BJP had swept this central region winning 12 seats while the Congress had retained Amethi and Raebareli, the Gandhi family strongholds.
If the votes polled by the MGB constituents, SP and BSP, in 2014 – when they had contested separately – are taken into account, the BJP’s road to victory will become tougher in at least seven seats which it had won last time.
- Dhaurahra
- Sitapur
- Mohanlalganj
- Lucknow
- Raebareli
- Amethi
- Banda
- Fatehpur
- Kaushambi
- Barabanki
- Faizabad
- Bahraich
- Kaiserganj
- Gonda
West Bengal
Seven Lok Sabha seats have gone to polls in the fifth phase in West Bengal. The BJP is engaged in a bitter fight with Trinamool Congress in the state, where it is looking to counter Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s formidable vote base.
With 42 Lok Sabha seats, Bengal ranks among the key states the BJP is concentrating on.
- Bangaon
- Barrackpur
- Howrah
- Uluberia
- Sreerampur
- Hooghly
- Arambag
(With inputs from PTI, IANS)
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