The last phase of a bitterly fought election which would decide whether the first majority government in a long time comes back to power would come to an end on Sunday even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave a last minute push for Hindu consolidation by going to Kedarnath for meditation.
Polling would be held in 59 constituencies including in Varanasi where Mr Modi is seeking to retain the seat.
The 59 seats also include all 13 seats in Punjab, an equal number in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh. Around 10 crore voters are expected to exercise their franchise to decide the fate of 918 candidates.The results would be declared on May 23. The seven phse polls have been spread over 38 days.
Besides Mr Modi in Varanasi, 25 other candidates are in fray. The PM’s Election officials carry EVM and VVPAT machines and other equipments ahead of the seventh and last phase of Lok Sabha polls in Patiala on Saturday main challengers are Congress’s Ajay Rai and SP-BSP grand alliance’s nominee Shalini Yadav. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is contesting 11 Lok Sabha seats in this phase, while its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is contesting Mirzapur, currently held by Union minister Anupriya Patel, and Robertsganj. Actor turned politician Sunny Deol, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann are among other prominent candidates contesting in Punjab.
Also going to polls are
Nine constituencies in West Bengal — Kolkata North and Kolkata South, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Jadavpur, Diamond Harbour, Jaynagar (SC) and Mathurapur (SC).
West Bengal has particularly seen prolonged political violence in these elections. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a meditation in a cave in Kedarnath possibly to give last minite push to Hindutva agenda.
On Saturday, Mr Modi had attended a press confernece along with BJP chief Amit Shah where he did not take any questions. Although Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s victory is certain in Varanasi, speculation is rife on the possible vote mathematics of the SP-BSP alliance. Varanasi is going to vote today in the final phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. Some 26 candidates are contesting this seat.
For Uttar Pradesh, the most crucial state for any parliamentary election, it is said that this time the battle is between the Samajwadi Party-Bahujan Samaj Party mahagathbandhan’s vote mathematics and Narendra Modi’s personal chemistry. There are many seats in UP where the alliance’s vote share in 2014 was higher than the BJP’s. But in Varanasi, even vote mathematics favours the BJP and its candidate Mr Modi. Polling officials at a distribution centre in Varanasi on Saturday.
In the general election of 2014, Mr Modi got 5.81 lakh votes, that is, 56.37 per cent of the total turnout. The Aam Admi Party (AAP) candidate Arvind Kejriwal got 20.30 per cent of the vote with nearly 2.09 lakh votes. The other three main contenders — Ajai Rai of the Congress, Vijay
Prakash Jaiswal of the BSP and Kailash Churasiya of the SP — could secure just 7.34, 5.88 and 4.34 per cent vote share respectively. Both the Congress and SP candidates are eyeing Mr Kejriwal’s votes this time. “Yes, we will get votes from BSP supporters and those who have voted for AAP last time because they clearly voted against the BJP in 2014,” said Samjwadi Party candidate Shalini Yadav.
Political analysts have ruled out that scenario. The total vote share of the SP-BSP alliance and of the Congress is likely to be 17.61 per cent, and will not come anywhere near the BJP’s vote share. Tallying the Opposition’s vote share we get 37.91 per cent, if Mr Kejriwal’s vote share is added into it. Interestingly, the BJP candidate for Varanasi in 2009, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, secured 30.52 per cent votes and won from here. But in 2014, Mr Modi secured 25.85 per cent votes more, taking the BJP voter base to a higher level.
The BJP is working hard for a higher voting turnout today to ensure a bigger victory margin this time.
0 comments:
Post a Comment