Lok Sabha poll: Campaign ends in 8 UP constituencies for second phase

New Delhi: Campaigning for the second phase of polling slated for April 26 in eight Lok Sabha constituencies of Uttar Pradesh came to an end at 5 PM on Wednesday.

Amroha, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, and Mathura are the constituencies that will vote on Friday.

The end of the campaigning marks the commencement of a 48-hour silence period.

The second phase which is scheduled for April 26, will witness polling in 89 constituencies across 12 states and Union Territories, along with the remaining part of the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency.

1206 candidates from 12 States and UTs along with 4 candidates from the Outer Manipur Parliamentary constituency will contest elections in phase 2 of the Lok Sabha Elections, the Election Commission of India said.

With political dynamics shifting in the state, the BJP is spearheading a robust alliance, encompassing parties like RLD, SBSP, Apna Dal (S), and Nishad party bolstering its position.

On the other hand, while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav aligns with the opposition bloc, Mayawati embarks on the electoral journey solo.

The election, which is poised for a three-cornered contest with the NDA, the INDIA bloc and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielding their candidates, witnessed senior leaders of all the political parties crisscrossing the state.

Prominent among the total of 91 candidates whose future will be decided in the second phase of polling are actor Hema Malini, who is seeking a third term from Mathura, and Arun Govil, who played the role of Lord Rama in the famed TV serial Ramayan.

In Mathura, Mukesh Ghangar, an INDIA bloc candidate has been pitted against Hema. Meanwhile, BSP has also named Suresh Singh as its candidate for Mathura, making the poll battle a three-cornered fight.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Hema Malini from BJP won the seat with a margin of 293,471 votes. A total of 671,293 votes were polled in favour of Malini with a vote share of 61.00 per cent who defeated Kunwar Narendra Singh from RLD who got 377,822 votes (34.21 per cent).

In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Hema Malini from BJP won the seat and was polled 574,633 votes with a vote share of 53.29 per cent. RLD candidate Jayant Chaudhary got 243,890 votes (22.62 per cent) and was the runner-up. Hema Malini defeated Jayant Chaudhary by a margin of 330,743 votes. Now Jayant Choudhary Party RLD is an alliance partner of BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

On the last day of campaigning for the second phase, Hema Malini held a roadshow in Mathura.

A large number of people gathered in the roadshow to support. While speaking to ANI, Hema Malini appealed people of Mathura to vote for her in the elections.

Arun Govil, who essayed the role of Lord Ram in Ramanand Sagar's mythological drama Ramayan has been given the BJP's ticket from Uttar Pradesh's Meerut Lok Sabha seat for the general polls.

The BJP is eying Western UP with optimism to achieve its ambitious target of 370 seats on its own, despite facing setbacks in the last elections. In 2014, the BJP secured 24 out of 27 seats in the region, which dwindled to 19 in 2019, with all eight seats going to the SP-BSP combined.

In 2019, BJP candidate Rajendra Agarwal had then managed to clinch the Meerut seat by defeating SP-backed BSP candidate Haji Yakub Qureshi by a thin margin of less than 5,000 votes.

On the Gautam Buddha Nagar seat, the BJP has fielded incumbent sitting MP, Mahesh Sharma for the third time in a row from the seat. He will be in the electoral fray against INDIA bloc candidate Mahendra Singh Nagar on the SP ticket while the BSP, who is fighting alone has fielded Rajendra Singh Solanki.

Gautam Buddha Nagar seat can be considered the stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party as it has won in both the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath campaigned for the ruling NDA.

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, BSP president Mayawati, and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Singh were on a hectic campaign trail of these constituencies during the past couple of days.