Going just by the number of constituencies, Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections may seem like the least important one because only 49 seats will be voting. One look at some of the constituencies and names included in the list, however, reveals how important the phase actually is. 

Here are some of the key battles that will take place today:

Rahul Gandhi vs Dinesh Pratap Singh 

Having suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting again from Uttar Pradesh for his second seat, in addition to Kerala’s Wayanad. Instead of Amethi, which he has represented as an MP thrice, Mr Gandhi has opted to fight from the family’s last remaining bastion in the state, Raebareli, which was won by his mother, Sonia Gandhi, five times. 

Facing off against him is the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh, a former Congress leader who switched in 2018 and lost to Sonia Gandhi in the general elections the year after that by a margin of about 1.7 lakh votes. Mr Singh’s family is seen to have a good hold on Raebareli and he has said that the departure of the “fake Gandhis” from the constituency is certain. 

Smriti Irani vs KL Sharma

In 2019, the BJP’s Smriti Irani managed to convince voters in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion, that she was a better alternative than their three-time MP Rahul Gandhi. With no one from the Gandhi family contesting from the constituency this time, Ms Irani, who is also a Union minister, has said an “ordinary BJP worker” has sent “the first family of Indian politics” packing. 

Her opponent from the seat is Congress’ KL Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist who has worked in the constituency for nearly 40 years. Winning in Amethi would be crucial for the Congress, which had managed to achieve victory only in one seat in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, down from the two it had won in 2014.

Rajnath Singh vs Ravidas Mehrotra

Lucknow is a prestige constituency for the BJP because former Prime Minister and one of its biggest leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had won it five times. It is also a party bastion and the BJP has held it since 1991. Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh contested from Lucknow for the first time in 2014 and won again in 2019, with his vote margin rising by 70,000 between the two elections.

The main contest this time is between Mr Singh, who is also a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Ravidas Mehrotra of the Samajwadi Party, which is fighting the elections in an alliance with the Congress. Mr Mehrotra is the MLA from Lucknow Central and is confident despite facing an uphill battle. “The biggest giants have fallen before the people and this is an election. You never know what can happen,” he has said.

Omar Abdullah vs Sajad Lone vs Engineer Rashid

Jammu and Kashmir’s five seats are voting in five phases and today is the turn of Baramulla. An enthusiastic campaign is being run by all sides and the contest between the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, People’s Conference Chairperson Sajad Lone and jailed leader Abdul Rashid Sheikh aka Engineer Rashid, who is contesting as an Independent, is a keenly watched one. 

Mr Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who has also won from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency thrice, has been one of the staunchest opponents of the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state. His campaign is centred around the Centre’s 2019 move and the threat it poses to the existence and identity of the people in the Union Territory.

The National Conference leader has accused Mr Lone of being the proxy candidate for the BJP, which is not contesting any of the three seats in the Kashmir region. The People’s Conference chief is being supported by Altaf Bukhari’s Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party and has also got tacit support from the BJP, which has asked people in Kashmir to vote for anyone but the National Conference and its former ally, the Peoples Democratic Party, which is headed by Mehbooba Mufti. 

Queering the pitch for both senior leaders is Engineer Rashid, whose campaign, run by his son, 26-year-old son Abrar Rashid, is seeing a surprising amount of traction. Engineer Rashid is in jail in a terror funding case and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party has also announced support for him. 

Piyush Goyal vs Bhushan Patil

Maharashtra is seeing a unique election this time with two of its biggest regional parties, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), being split and their factions facing off against each other. The BJP is allied with the Eknath Shinde group of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP while the Congress is part of an alliance with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).

As part of its decision to make as many ministers as possible contest the Lok Sabha polls, Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industries, has been fielded from the Mumbai North Constituency. The leader of the Rajya Sabha is contesting his first Lok Sabha election and has been labelled an “outsider”, a tag he has strongly contested. What is working in his favour, however, is that the constituency is seen as one of the BJP’s strongest in Maharashtra and had been won by a margin of 4.6 lakh votes in 2019.  

Mr Patil, who is the vice president of the Mumbai Congress, has said there is no such thing as a strong seat and that he will emerge as a giant killer. The Congress leader said he has risen up the ranks in the party from the grassroots, is a “son of the soil” and has worked in the region for decades.

New Delhi:

Robert Vadra – Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband – has declared his backing for the party’s Lok Sabha election candidate from the Gandhi family stronghold of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh.

After much suspnse the party said last week its senior leader from the state – KL Sharma – will contest a seat that had been dominated by the Gandhi clan till it was wrested from them in 2019, when Smriti Irani handed Rahul Gandhi a shock defeat.

Earlier there had been much speculation that Mr Vadra, who has never previously contested an election, could be chosen to fight a seat that has, in the past, been held by Mr Gandhi, his mother and ex-party boss Sonia Gandhi, and her husband, ex-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. 

READ | “If Amethi Wants Me…”: Robert Vadra Hints At Lok Sabha Polls

Mr Vadra, seen by a small section as an outside bet on a seat nobody from the Gandhi family seemed to want, had declared he would contest the election “… if the people of Amethi expect me to represent them… if I decide to become a Member of Parliament”.

Now, though, with Mr Sharma declared as the candidate, Mr Vadra seemed to backtrack.

VIDEO | Here’s what Robert Vadra said on wanting to contest Lok Sabha election from UP’s Amethi or Raebareli seat.

“Yes, I found a lot of people in Amethi and Raebareli who were very happy, excited and hopeful that I might take part, stand (in election) and represent them but… pic.twitter.com/ZepF1im5cm

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 8, 2024

“Yes, I found a lot of people in Amethi and Raebareli who were happy, excited, and hopeful that I might take part… stand (in the election) … and represent them, but the good news is Rahul Gandhi is amongst them… and I am very happy for Kishori Lal Sharma,” he said.

READ | “Robert Vadra Ab Ki Baar” Posters In Amethi Amid Gandhi Suspense

Mr Vadra continued: “… (KL Sharma) has worked in Amethi forever. He knows every area… every person. He can definitely bring the progress that Smriti Irani was not able to do.”

The Congress’ choice of KL Sharma has been heavily criticised by the BJP. 

There had previously been speculation of a blockbuster double-billing for the UP election, which would see Rahul Gandhi return to contest Amethi and Mrs Gandhi Vadra make her electoral debut from Raebareli, the seat held for decades by her mother, Sonia Gandhi.

Eventually though Mrs Gandhi Vadra opted against contesting the poll and Mr Gandhi chose to defend the Raebareli seat, saying he had been instructed to do so by his mother. 

READ | BJP Leader Calls Him “Gandhis’ Chaprasi”, Congress’ Amethi Pick Replies

In response, Smriti Irani took a fierce jab at the Gandhi family and the Congress, saying that absence from Amethi meant the BJP’s rivals had accepted defeat even before polling.

“Gandhi family not being present in the election fray in Amethi indicates that Congress party has accepted its defeat in Amethi even before the polling on the seat,” Ms Irani, the sitting MP from Amethi, told reporters.

“Had they felt there was any chance of victory on the seat, they would have contested from here and not fielded their proxy,” the BJP leader said, referring to KL Sharma.

Ms Irani took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who filed his nomination from Raebareli today, saying, “the one who was not accepted by Amethi and fled to Wayanad will never fully belong to Rae Bareli.”

With input from PTI

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The Congress has fielded Kishori Lal Sharma – a longtime loyalist of the Gandhi family – from Amethi which he looked after in their absence.

The Congress decision was announced this morning after weeks of suspense.

Kishori Lal Sharma or KL Sharma thanked the party for the opportunity to contest from Amethi – Gandhis’ family bastion – in Uttar Pradesh.

“I would like to thank Khargeji, Sonia ji, Rahul ji, and Priyanka ji for giving a “chotte” karyakarta like me an opportunity to contest from a seat that is their family bastion. I will work hard. I have been working in this constituency for the last 40 years,” he said.

On BJP’s allegations that Gandhis opted out of Amethi because they were “scared”, KL Sharma said that Rahul Gandhi is fighting for the whole country.

“Rahul Gandhi is not someone who runs away from the ground. He is fighting for the whole country,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi, who was expected to make an all-out bid to win back Amethi, has been announced as the party candidate from Raebareli.

Mr Gandhi had lost the family bastion – Amethi -in a shock defeat to the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, though, remained firm on her decision not to contest despite much pressure. There was widespread expectation that she would step into her mother’s shoes in Raebareli.

The Congress will contest 17 of UP’s 80 Lok Sabha seats, with the remaining 63 going to INDIA bloc ally Samajwadi Party and regional outfits.