Politics Today: Plus, PM in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra; Priyanka Gandhi in Amethi, Rae Bareli
We are almost three weeks into the seven-phase Lok Sabha election process this summer. On Tuesday, in the third phase, voters in 93 seats across 11 states and UTs will cast their votes. Following this, a total of 283 seats would have wrapped up polling, while five states — Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, and Gujarat — would have fully completed their voting procedures.
The 2019 results in these seats indicate that the BJP practically swept the regions that vote today.
The BJP alone had won 71 of these 93 seats, with the Congress far behind at 4.
There are a total of 1,332 candidates in the fray on Tuesday. The BJP has fielded the most candidates in this phase at 82, followed by the BSP at 79 and the Congress at 68. With 25 seats in Gujarat going to polls, the state has the most candidates contesting at 266, followed by Maharashtra (11 seats) at 258 and Karnataka (14 seats) at 227. Of the 241 candidates with criminal cases, Maharashtra has the most such candidates at 67, followed by Karnataka at 37 and Gujarat at 36. In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Goa, a quarter of the candidates are facing criminal cases. Among the major parties, the Congress has the most candidates with criminal cases, at 26 or 38% of all its candidates in the third phase, followed by the BJP at 22 or 27%. There are also 103 Independents with criminal cases.
Politics Today One thing that will be tracked on Tuesday is the voting percentages. The Election Commission (EC) has recently acknowledged the dip in voting turnouts this time — under 4 percentage points for the first phase of elections and under 3 percentage points for the second phase compared to the 2019 elections — and expressed disappointment about the polling percentage in some metropolitan cities in the second phase, attributing it to “rigid levels of apathy” in urban seats.
In the first two phases, urban seats, which have traditionally registered low turnouts, did not move the needle even this time. The voting percentage decreased further. Among them was Ghaziabad, which experienced a decrease of 6 percentage points from 55.88% in 2019 to 49.88% this time. Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 53.63%, down from 60.4% in 2019.
Additionally, Bangalore Central and Bangalore South, which also voted on April 26, saw turnouts of 54.06% and 53.17% respectively, compared to 54.31% and 53.69% in the last election.
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PM Modi Schedule
After casting his vote in the Gandhinagar Politics Today Lok Sabha seat, the PM will travel to two states for campaigning.
First, he will be in Madhya Pradesh, addressing public rallies at Khargone (10:30 am) and Dhar (12:15). Of the 29 seats in Madhya Pradesh, the BJP won all but one in 2019. Chhindwara was the lone seat that the Congress managed to win.
It remains to be seen if the BJP will manage to retain the same tally this time.
Later in the day, the PM will be in Maharashtra for a rally in Politics Today Ahmadnagar (3:30 pm) and a roadshow in Beed (5:30).
The state, which sends the second highest number of parliamentarians — 48 — to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh sends 80 MPs, has turned into a major fighting ground for the BJP, which is eyeing 45 seats in the state and 370-plus seats across the country.
The PM and the BJP’s focus on Maharashtra is visible. The PM has already held a dozen rallies and has six more rallies lined up.
In 2014 and 2019 — when the BJP won 282 seats and 303 seats, respectively — Maharashtra contributed 41 seats each through its BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. This year, however, the political dynamics have changed and the BJP is banking heavily on its allies — Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
That Maharashtra is proving to be a difficult turf is evident with the party extending Modi’s rallies in constituencies, which were considered safe. In the previous elections, Modi held 142 rallies across the country, including nine in the state but had skipped Pune, Baramati, Nashik, Aurangabad, Sangli, Raigad, and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
Congress Programs
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be heading to Jharkhand to address programs in the Singhbhum and Lohardhaga constituencies.
AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will be touring the crucial Rae Bareli and Amethi seats.
After weeks of suspense and uncertainty, the Congress announced its candidates for the traditional Gandhi family seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh on May 3
Rahul switched to Rae Bareli, perhaps a safer seat than Amethi, from where he lost to Union minister Smriti Irani in 2019, while Priyanka was not fielded. Politics Today Amethi, the party fielded Kishori Lal Sharma, an influential representative of the Nehru-Gandhi family in the two seats for over two decades.
It will be after 25 years that no Gandhi Politics Today will be in the fray from Amethi. Sonia made her electoral debut from here back in 1999, a year after she took over as Congress president. In 2004, she shifted to Rae Bareli, making way for Rahul to make his electoral debut from the seat.
