BJP faces tough MGB challenge in 7 out of 13 seats in phase-IV in UP

New Delhi, April 27 (IANS) Out of the 13 phase-IV seats in Uttar Pradesh going to the polls on April 29, the Bharatiya Janata Party faces tough challenge from the Samajwadi Party- Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) grand alliance or 'mahagathbandhan'(MGB) on seven seats.

Six of these seven seats were won by the BJP in 2014. If the votes polled by SP and BSP in last Lok Sabha elections are taken into account, the BJP falls short of numbers in Shahjahanpur, Kheri, Hardoi, Misrikh, Etawah and Jhansi. Kannauj -- the seventh seat dominated by MGB -- is already in the SP's kitty as Dimple Yadav won from here with narrow margin but with the BSP's support, the SP can widen its lead.

The BJP, on the other, is placed comfortably beyond the opposition alliance's striking range in Unnao, Farrukhabad, Kanpur, Akbarpur, Jalaun and Hamirpur. If the support base of SP and BSP remains intact, the BJP can lose six seats in Phase-IV from its impressive tally of 71 out of 80 in 2014.

The battle for central Uttar Pradesh was comprehensively won by the BJP in 2014 winning 12 out of these 13 seats. With the Congress and SP's breakaway Shivpal Yadav's Progressive Democratic Alliance (PDA) in fray separately, the fight becomes multi-cornered.

A detailed constituency analysis of Phase IV UP seats:

Shahjahanpur in 2014

Winner: Krishna Raj (BJP); votes polled 525,132
Umed Singh Kshyap (BSP); 289,603
Mithilesh Kumar (SP); 242,913

(SP+BSP = 532,516)

Candidates in 2019

Arun Kumar Sagar: BJP
Brahm Swaroop Sagar: UPA
Amar Chandra Jauhar: MGB
Narveer Fauji: PDA (Shivpal Yadav's alliance)

Kheri in 2014

Winner: Ajay Kumar (BJP); 398,578
Arvind Giri (BSP); 288304
Ravi Prakash Verma (SP), 160,112
(SP+BSP) = 4,48,426

Candidates in 2019
Ajay Kumar Mishara: BJP
Zafar Ali Naqvi: UPA
Dr. Purvi Verma: MGB
Shri Krishna Verma: PDA

Hardoi in 2014

Winner: Anshul Verma (BJP) 360,501
Usha Verma (SP) 276,543
Shive Prasad Verma (BSP) 279,158
(SP+BSP)= 555,701

Candidates in 2019
Jai Prakash: BJP
Virendra Kumar Verma: UPA
Usha Verma: MGB
Sanjay Bhartiya: PDA

Misrikh in 2014

Winner: Anju Bala (BJP); 412,575
Ashok Kumar Rawat (BSP); 325,212
Jai Prakash (SP); 194,759
(SP+BSP) = 519971

Candidates in 2019
Ashok Kumar Rawat: BJP
Manjari Rahi: UPA
Dr. Neelu Satyarthi: MGB
Arun Kumar Kori: PDA

Unnao in 2014
Winner: Sakshi Maharaj (BJP); 518,834
Arun Shankar Shukla (SP); 208,661
Brajesh Pathak (BSP) 200,176
(SP+ BSP)= 408837

Candidates in 2019
Swami Sachhichidanand Hari Sakshi: BJP
Anu Tandon: UPA
Arun Kumar Shukla: MGB
Satish Kumar Shukla: PDA

Farrukhabad in 2014
Winner: Mukesh Rajput (BJP); 406,195
Rameshwar Singh Yadav (SP); 255,693
Jaiveer Singh (BSP); 114,521
(SP+BSP= 370,214)

Candidates in 2019
Mukesh Rajput: BJP
Salman Khurshid: UPA
Manoj Agarwal: MGB
Uday Pal Singh: PDA

Etawah in 2014

Winner: Ashok Kumar Doharey (BJP); 439,646
Prem Das Katheriya (SP); 266,700
Ajay Pal Singh Jatav (BSP); 192,804
(SP+BSP) = 459,504

Candidates in 2019
Dr. Ram Shankar Katheriya: BJP
Ashok Kumar Doharey: UPA
Kamlesh Katheriya -- MGB
Shambhu Dayal Dohare: PDA

Kannauj in 2014

Winner: Dimple Yadav (SP); 489,164
Nirmal Tiwari (BSP); 127,785
Subrat Pathak (BJP); 469,257
(SP+BSP) = 616949

Contestants in 2019
Subrat Pathak: BJP
UPA: No candidate
Dimple Yadav: MGB
PDA: No candidate

Kanpur in 2014

Winner: MM Joshi (BJP); 474,712
Saleem Ahmad (BSP); 53,218
Surendra Mohan Agarwal (SP); 25,723
(SP+BSP) = 78941

Candidates in 2019
Satyadev Pachauri: BJP
Sriprakash Jaiswal: UPA
Ram Kumar: MGB
PDA: No candidate

Akbarpur in 2014

Winner: Devendra Singh (BJP); 481,584
Anil Shukla Warsi (BSP); 202,587
Lal Singh Tomar (SP); 147,002
(SP+BSP) = 349,589

Contestants in 2019
Devendra Singh Bhole: BJP
Raja Ram Pal: UPA
Nisha Sachan: MGB
Mahendra Singh Yadav: PDA

Jalaun in 2014
Winner: Bhanu Pratap Singh (BJP); 548,631
Brijlal Khabri (BSP); 261,429
Ghanshyam Anuragi (SP); 180,921

(SP+BSP)= 442,350

Contestants in 2019
Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma: BJP
Brijlal Khabri: UPA
Pankaj Singh: MGB
PDA: No candidate

Jhansi in 2014
Winner: Uma Bharti (BJP); 575,889
Dr. Chandrapal Singh Yadav (SP) 385,422
Anuradha Sharma (BSP); 213,792
(SP+BSP)= 599,214

Contestants in 2019
Anurag Sharma: BJP
Shiv Sharan Singh: UPA
Shyam Sundar Singh Yadav: MGB
Jagat Vikram Singh Rajput: PDA

Hamirpur in 2014
Kunwar Pushpendra Singh (BJP); 543,884
Bishambhar Prasad Nishad (SP); 187,096
Rakesh Kumar Goswami(BSP); 176,356
(SP+BSP) = 363,452

Contestants in 2019
Pushpendra Singh Chandel: BJP
Pritam Lodhi: UPA
Dilip Kumar Singh: MGB
Arvind Kumar Prajapati: PDA