In UP, Congress bigwigs to make it triangular on many seats in Phase V

New Delhi: The fifth phase of the ongoing general election on May 6 will see voting in Uttar Pradesh in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, of which the BJP had won 12 barring the Congress bastions of Amethi and Rae Bareli. In this round, the Congress is hoping to not only retain these two seats but also take on the BJP directly in at least four other seats – Dhaurahra, Barabanki, Faizabad and Sitapur. The Congress had won seven out of these 14 seats in 2009 and the party is working hard to return to its previous glory.

However, the big obstacle in the way is the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, which commands a large majority in several constituencies in terms of traditional supporters of these parties. In 2014, the SP or BSP were in second position on 10 out of these 14 seats while the combined votes of the SP and BSP exceeded those of the BJP in several seats. The Congress will therefore end up making the contest triangular in a few constituencies.

Congress stalwarts such as party President Rahul Gandhi, his mother and former party chief Sonia Gandhi, Jitin Prasada, Nirmal Khatri and Tanuj Punia are among those in the fray in the seats going to the polls on May 6.


In Sitapur, the Congress has fielded Kaiser Jahan, who was the BSP candidate in 2014 and stood at second position. This time the BSP has fielded Nakul Dubey from the constituency. In Fathepur, the Congress has given the ticket to Rakesh Sachan, who contested the seat on SP ticket in 2014. This time the seat went to the BSP as its share in the opposition alliance, and the BSP has fielded Sukhdev Prasad. Congress general secretary and the party’s incharge of eastern UP has focused on the fifth phase and has campaigned in all the constituencies where the party hopes to perform better this time than it did in 2014.

In Lucknow, senior BJP leader and former CM Rajnath Singh is once again in the fray, and he faces Poonam Sinha of the SP and Pramod Krishnam of the Congress. On the remaining 13 seats, the challenge for the BJP would be to repeat the 2014 results by stopping the opposition alliance as well as Congress.