Lucknow: It is a multi-cornered battle in the 14 Lok Sabha Uttar Pradesh constituencies which go to polls in the fourth phase of elections on April 30. The pride of two party chiefs, BJP's Rajnath Singh and Congress's Sonia Gandhi, is at stake in Lucknow and Rae Bareli. While the Congress chief seems confident of a victory in the party's bastion Rae Bareli, Rajnath too, is trying to cash in on a 'wave' in favour of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
The Lucknow Lok Sabha seat is set to witness a tough contest. While Rajnath is under pressure to keep hold of the legacy of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it is most likely that sitting MLA and former state Congress president Rita Bahguna Joshi will give him a run for money.
Ever since the Ram temple movement, BJP has never lost the Lucknow seat. Vajpayee was elected five times in a row from 1991 to 2004. In 2009, Lalji Tandon took over after Atal withdrew on health ground and defeated his nearest rival Rita Bahuguna Joshi. But the victory margin, which was usually close to 1.5-2 lakh range during Atal's tenure, dropped down to nearly 37,000 votes. Rajnath, who after a hectic round of parley and consultations replaced Tandon, will be testing the waters this time.
Joshi, who is sitting MLA from Lucknow Cantt, has got the maximum support of around 1.5 lakh people from Uttarakhand. Though the defection of Congress leader Satpal Maharaj to the BJP, is likely to bring some changes in calculations.
The ruling Samajwadi Party is banking on its minister Abhishek Mishra. The SP is counting on its performance in the 2012 Assembly elections, where it stormed back to power winning 224 seats in the 403-member House. Midway through the elections, the party had replaced its earlier declared candidate Ashok Bajpai with Mishra on the Lucknow seat.
BSP nominee and former minister in the state government Nakul Dubey is also expected to put up a good show on the seat which is crucial for any party to pave its way to the Centre.
The new entrant Aam Admi Party is hoping to give a tough fight by fielding actor-turned politician Javed Jaffrey, who lacks experience but hopes to make a big impact using the anti-corruption plank.
In Kanpur, Union Minister and two-time MP Sri Prakash Jaiswal is battling it out against former BJP president Murli Manohar Joshi. Joshi's candidature for the Kanpur seat was named after he had to vacate the Varanasi seat for party's PM nominee Narendra Modi.
Jhansi, too, is expected to be an interesting fight where the BJP's Uma Bharti is pitted against Union Minister and sitting Congress MP Pradeep Jain and Chandrapal Yadav of Samajwadi Party.
Another Union Minister who will test his fate in this phase is Jitin Prasada who is contesting from Dhaurahra seat which he won in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. National Commission for Scheduled Castes Chairman PL Punia is also in the fray, seeking a re-election from Barabanki.
A total of 2.4 crore voters, including 1.3 crore men and 1.09 crore women, will decide the fate of 233 candidates from 14 constituencies - Dhaurahra, Sitapur, Misrikh, Unnao, Mohanlalganj, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Kanpur, Jalaun, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Fatehpur and Barabanki- which go to polls on April 30.
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