New Delhi:
The sixth and penultimate phase of voting for the 2024 Indian Lok Sabha elections began this morning, with 58 seats across six states and two union territories voting in the state, including Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir, which was scheduled to vote in the third phase but will vote today due to bad weather on May 7.
The seat has alternated between Farooq and Omar Abdullah’s National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti’s PDP in the past five elections.
But the focus will be on the national capital, where the BJP faces a challenge from Block India. The AAP and Congress have banded together to thwart a BJP trifecta. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party has won all seven of its previous elections between 2014 and 2019.
BJP vs Congress + AAP in Delhi
The AAP will contest four seats – New Delhi, East Delhi, South Delhi and West Delhi – while the Indian National Congress has fielded candidates in three seats – Chandni Chowk, North East and North West.
Oddly, while the AAP has dominated Delhi assembly elections since 2013, the BJP has led the way in Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, for example, the BJP won around 57% of the votes while the AAP got just 18%. A year later, in the 2020 state elections, the AAP swept away its rivals, winning 62 of the 70 seats and polling around 54% of the votes.
While winning (or losing) any or all of the seven seats is unlikely to make or break the election for either the ruling BJP or the opposition, claiming Delhi is a matter of prestige.
Among the big names contesting in Delhi this time is the BJP’s Bansuri Swaraj, daughter of the late former foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who is contesting against the AAP’s Somnath Bharti for the New Delhi seat, which was won by the BJP’s Meenakshi Lekki in 2014 and 2019 and by the Indian National Congress’ Ajay Maken in the last two elections.
Meanwhile, in Northeast Delhi, the BJP’s Manoj Tiwari is aiming for his third consecutive victory, but he will have to overcome a no-brainer from Kanya Kumar of the Indian National Congress, a passionate young leader from the city’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Bengal and Bihar: 8 seats
Elsewhere in the country, there are eight constituencies in Bengal, including Tamluk and Kanthi, which are strongholds of the family of Suvendu Adhikari, who was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s right-hand man before resigning amid huge controversy to join the BJP.
Since then, Adhikari and Banerjee have become implacable rivals, going head-to-head for the Nandigram assembly constituency in the 2021 state elections, which the Trinamool Party won in a landslide victory. But the constituency manifesto that brought Banerjee to power saw Adhikari defeat Banerjee, forcing a by-election to retain the chief ministerial post.
Tamluk constituency is also significant as the BJP has fielded former Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Ganguly from there, who immediately challenged the Trinamool leader. He will face off against ruling party youth wing leader Devansh Bhattacharya. Meanwhile, in Kanthi constituency, the BJP’s Somendu Adhikari (Adhikari’s brother) will face off against the Trinamool’s Uttam Balik.
Last time, the BJP won five seats while the Trinamool won three.
Eight seats are also going to polls in Bihar. In the last elections, Bihar was dominated by the BJP and its NDA. The alliance won 39 of the state’s 40 seats. Of the seats going to polls today, the BJP won four last time and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU won three.
The Kuomintang won the eighth election.
The three parties have once again formed an alliance after Nitish Kumar, who was instrumental in founding the Indian Union, made a remarkable turnaround and Chirag Paswan’s LJP sided with the BJP.
Voting in 14 seats in BJP stronghold of Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh, which like Bengal is voting in all phases of this election, will send 14 seats to the polls this time. Uttar Pradesh is a politically important state with 80 seats in the Lower House.
The BJP has dominated electoral politics here since the 2017 Assembly elections and won 62 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections (including 64 seats won by its ally Apna Dal (S) – two in total) and will be hoping for another big win to achieve its target of winning 400 seats.
In 2019, the BJP won nine of the 14 seats, while the Bahujan Samaj Party, which is not affiliated with the BJP, won four. The Samajwadi Party, which is part of the coalition, won one seat.
All 14 seats are in western Uttar Pradesh, including the temple town of Prayagraj and Azamgarh, the stronghold of jailed SP leader Aam Khan, who is now supported by the BJP. The seat was held by SP leader Mulayam Yadav in 2014 and by his son Akhilesh Yadav in 2019. But it was won by the BJP in the 2022 by-elections, held after Akhilesh Yadav resigned to retain the seat.
Phulpur is among the seats going to polls in Uttar Pradesh today and there was chaos at a rally of Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi there as SP and Congress supporters were itching to meet their leaders.
Six from Odisha
Six seats are up for voting, with the contest intensifying for three seats – Bhubaneswar, the capital, Sambalpur and Puri.
In Sambalpur, BJD’s Pranab Prakash Das will face off against Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, a strong BJP candidate who is also seen as a leading candidate for the chief ministerial position in the concurrent state assembly elections. This will be Pradhan’s first Lok Sabha election since 2009. The seat was won by BJP’s Nitesh Deb in 2019.
Meanwhile, in Puri, BJP’s fiery spokesman Sambit Patra is hoping to achieve what he could not do last year – in 2019, he lost from this seat to BJD’s Pinaki Mishra by a margin of one percentage point.
The state capital is witnessing a three-way contest between BJP’s Aparajita Sarangi (incumbent), BJD’s Manmath Routray and Indian National Congress’ Yasir Nawaz.
Haryana votes completed
All 10 seats in Haryana go to polls today, and for the BJP the math is simple: win them all.
The saffron party had won all 10 seats in the 2019 elections and is hoping for a similar result this time around, especially as the state is part of the party’s Hindi heartland.
The list of big names here begins with former Chief Minister M L Khattar, who is contesting against Divyanshu Budhiraja of the Indian National Congress for the Karnal seat.
In Kurukshetra, the BJP fielded Naveen Jindal against AAP’s Sushil Gupta, and a third candidate, INLD’s Abhay Singh Chautala, added an unknown element. Gurgaon has a Bollywood-like allure, and the Indian National Congress has fielded former actor Raj Babbar.
Haryana is another state with a strong Indian presence, with the Indian National Congress and the AAP sharing the seats.
Towards Phase 7
The seventh and final round of elections will take place on June 1st.
That means a (lot of) attention will be focused on Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is campaigning.
The election results will be announced on June 4th.
