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Lok Sabha elections 2019: 117 seats set to vote in 3rd phase of elections
Of the 117, polling in one seat in Tripura was deferred from an earlier phase and polling in Anant Nag, Jammu & Kashmir will happen in three phases starting with the third one.
A total of 117 parliamentary constituencies (PCs) will go to polls in what is the biggest of the seven-phase general election schedule for 2019. In 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finished ahead of the Congress in the seats which went to polls in the first and second phase, but was behind non-Congress non-BJP parties.
PCs which will go to polls in each phase beginning today saw the BJP winning a majority in the 2014 elections and the saffron party’s performance in this phase will be crucial in deciding its political fortunes. Of the 117 seats, the BJP won 62 and the NDA, 67 in 2014. Voting will be completed in all seats of Gujarat, Kerala, Goa, Karanataka, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu in the third phase.
Of the 117, polling in one seat in Tripura was deferred from an earlier phase and polling in Anant Nag, Jammu & Kashmir will happen in three phases starting with the third one.
Tuesday’s polling will also mark an end to the electoral battle in southern India. With polling already complete in Tamil Nadu (except Vellore), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 20 seats in Kerala and the remaining 14 in Karnataka will go to polls on Tuesday. Both states are important from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) point of view. It is looking to make an impact and probably open its account in Kerala, hoping to exploit the widespread protests against the Supreme Court order allowing entry of women of menstruating age at the Sabaramila shrine. In 2014, the BJP won 11 out of the 14 PCs which go to polls in Karnataka (it won six of the 14 that went to polls in the second phase). While Kerala will see a triangular contest, with the Congress hoping to exploit the extra momentum from Rahul Gandhi contesting Wayanad, the BJP will be up against a united challenge by the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular).
Watch | Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Big fights to watch out for in Phase 3 of voting
The presidents of the two main political parties are in fray in the third phase with BJP chief Amit Shah making his Lok Sabha election debut from Gandhinagar and Congress president Rahul Gandhi contesting from Wayanad.
The Congress had won 16 seats, while the remaining seats were divided between BJD (6), CPI-M (7), NCP (4), Samajwadi Party (3), Shiv Sena (2), RJD (2), AIUDF (2), IUML (2), LJP (1), PDP (1), RSP (1), Kerala Congress-M (1), CPI (1), Swabhimani Paksha (1) and Trinamool Congress (1). Three seats were won by Independent candidates.
This time the BJP will be tested in its bastion Gujarat — where polling will be held for all the 26 Lok Sabha seats — apart from Karanataka, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the party had done well in 2014.
In 2014, the BJP won all the 26 seats in Gujarat, 11 of 14 in Karnataka, 8 of 10 in Uttar Pradesh, 6 of 7 in Chhattisgarh, 6 of 14 in Maharashtra, both the seats in Goa and one seat each in Assam, Bihar, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
The Congress, which gave a tough fight to the BJP in the Assembly polls held in 2017, is hoping to win 10 to 15 seats this time.
In Karnataka, the BJP is considered to have strong footing in many of the 14 seats going to the polls on Tuesday. However, the saffron party faces tough challenge from the Congress-JD-S combine.
The BJP faces a strong challenge in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party (SP) strongholds of Mainpuri, Badaun and Sambhal will go to the polls on Tuesday and the party’s prospects have received a considerabe boost following its alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The Congress too is also likely to cut into BJP votes.
In Maharashtra, the polling will be held in some Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) strongholds, including Baramati, Madha, Kolahpur and Satara. NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule is contesting from the party’s bastion in Baramati.
In Chhattisgarh, the BJP has sought to beat the anti-incumbency wave against its sitting MPs by replacing all of them. Here the saffron party faces a renewed challenge from the Congress, which returned to power in the state in 2018 after 15 years.
Of the five seats in Bihar, the BJP had won only one in 2014 and it is again contesting one seat this time. Janata Dal (United), the BJP’s ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is contesting three seats while the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) is contesting one seat.
In Odisha, the third phase of elections will witness a battle between several political heavyweights as well as former bureaucrats.
In the four constituencies of lower Assam that will go to the polls on Tuesday, both the Congress and the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) are seeking to gain votes by targeting the BJP over the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
The Congress will look to swell its tally in Kerala with Rahul Gandhi in the fray from Wayanad.
The party had won 8 of the 20 seats in 2014 while a few more were won by its allies. The BJP too is seeing a realistic chance to win four seats in the southern state.
In West Bengal where it faces a multi-cornered challenge from the Trinamool Congress, the BJP and the CPI-M, the Congress will seek to at least retain the three seats it won in 2014.
