Lok Sabha 2019 constituency: Ballia in UP was former PM Chandra Shekhar’s stronghold

Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of members to Parliament at 80, will go to polls in all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha election 2019. Votes will be counted on May 23.

Former prime minister Chandra Shekhar represented Ballia in eastern Uttar Pradesh eight times in the Lok Sabha.

A Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) trooper stands guard as people wait in queues to cast their votes outside a polling station during the third phase of general election in Khowai district in the northeastern state of Tripura, India, April 23, 2019. (REUTERS)

Chandra Shekhar’s son Neeraj Shekhar won the Ballia Lok Sabha seat in a by-poll in 2007 after his father’s death. He held the seat for two terms before being defeated by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bharat Singh in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The BJP won the Ballia Lok Sabha seat for the first time that year.

The assembly constituencies Phephana, Ballia Nagar, Bairia, Zahoorabad and Mohammadabad are under the Ballia Lok Sabha seat.

In the Ballia parliamentary constituency, the Kshatriyas have a considerable influence. Extremely Backward Caste community Rajbhars also have a sizeable population here.

Uttar Pradesh, which sends the maximum number of members to Parliament at 80, will go to polls in all the seven phases of the Lok Sabha election 2019. Votes will be counted on May 23.

READ: All about Lok Sabha elections 2019

Here are a few details about the Ballia Lok Sabha seat:

State: Uttar Pradesh

Name of the Lok Sabha constituency: Ballia

Polling date: May 19

2019 candidates: Virendra Singh Mast (BJP), Sanatan Pandey (SP), Santosh Pratap Singh (CPI)

Winning margin in 2014: 139,434

Runner up name, party: Neeraj Shekhar, SP

Number of voters in 2014: 942,211

Percentage of votes polled in 2014: 53.28%

Number of women voters in 2014: 794,887

Number of polling booths in 2014: 1,757