Campaigning ends for 13 Lok Sabha seats in UP

Campaigning for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi, and a by-election for the state Assembly ended on Thursday. The polling on these seats will be held on June 1, the seventh and final phase of voting across the country. Altogether, UP sends 80 MPs to the Parliament.

The Lok Sabha seats where polling will take place in this phase are Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, and Robertsganj (SC), spread across 11 districts.

Besides PM Modi, the prominent candidates in this phase include Union minister and Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel from Mirzapur, former prime minister Chandrashekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar from Ballia, Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur, Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli, Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary from Maharajganj and Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur.


PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and INDIA bloc leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav campaigned aggressively in this phase.

The BJP tried to drive home its allegations that the INDIA bloc will bring in Muslim reservation and put a 'Babri lock' on Ayodhya's Ram temple.

The Opposition urged people to vote to "save the Constitution".

During the campaign, PM Modi said the INDIA bloc parties want to turn the country's majority community into "second-class citizens" and alleged that "jihadis" across the border are supporting the Samajwadi Party and the Congress.

Addressing a rally in Maharajganj and Ballia, Amit Shah slammed the SP over "power shortages" during its rule in the state, and said the supply was uninterrupted during Ramzan but not on Janmashtami.

He said the elections presented before people a choice to select between those who constructed the Ram temple and those who opened fire at Ram bhakts, referring to an episode when SP's Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed in Varanasi that Modi will not become the next prime minister, calling it a "guarantee".

Addressing a rally in PM Modi's constituency Varanasi, Gandhi said the contest there was not between a prime ministerial candidate and Congress nominee Ajay Rai because Modi "will not return as prime minister".

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the contest was between Ram bhakts and Ram drohis (anti-Ram), while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav urged people to "save the Constitution" and sought votes for the PDA - pichhde (backward), Dalit, alpsankhyak (minorities).

There are 144 candidates, including 10 women, in the fray for the Lok Sabha constituencies in this phase.

Six candidates are contesting for the Duddhi (ST) Assembly by-election in Sonbhadra district.