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Battle of crorepatis in the biggest phase of e2014

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New Delhi: The 5th phase of the Lok Sabha elections began on Thursday, with 121 constituencies going to the polls. There are 465 crorepatis among the candidates – Nandan Nilekani tops the list with Rs 7,710 crore, Anil Kumar Sharma with Rs 849 crore and R Prabhakara Reddy with Rs 224 crore.

Till the 5th phase, 3,305 candidates are figuring in, out of which 50% are not even graduates. Low on education, they are high on crimes. As many as 328 candidates face criminal charges like murder, rape and robbery. Congress has 45 (23%) candidates, BJP 68 (34%) and other parties 31 (16%) who have pending criminal cases against them.

Out of the 12 states where polling is held, five have more than 10 constituencies. Karnataka leads with 28 constituencies, followed by Rajasthan (20), Maharashtra (19), UP and Odisha (11 each).

 

Jharkhand: Instability plague the state politics, which witnessed 9 governments in the last 13 years. Given Jharkhand’s diverse and fragmented electorate, both BJP and Congress will find it tough to win most of the 14 constituencies. Poll trends suggest wild fluctuation between extremes. While BJP had won handsomely in 2009, UPA was the big winner in 2004. 

The key constituencies to watch out are Ranchi, Hazaribagh, Jamshedpur, Dumka, Singhbhum and Kodarma.

 

Uttar Pradesh: This dense political wildlife sanctuary sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha. With political heavyweights like Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the ring, it could be a mini pan-India election. Pre-poll surveys suggest a major swing to the saffron ideology Samawadi Party’s inability to provide good governance will indeed affect its poll prospects. In a major twist, Dalit community’s decision to opt for BJP has damaged Mayawati’s ambitions.

 

West Bengal: With the Left on terminal decline, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) is expected to win 30 seats, 11 more than it won in 2009.

 

Chhattisgarh: BJP looks set to retain its majority in Chhattisgarh. Naxal insurgency continues to be the major problem. Prominent candidates include Ajit Jogi (Congress) and chief minister Raman Singh’s son, Abhishek Singh.

 

Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chauhan’s turf, also known as Madhya Pradesh, sends 29 MPs to Parliament. BJP currently holds 16, Congress 12 and BSP one seat. The ten constituencies which are set to go to polls on April 17 are Morena, Bhind, Gwalior, Guna, Sagar, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Khajuraho, Bhopal and Rajgarh.

 

Bihar: The polls will bring a sense of joy and despair to many. The major contest is between the personalities of Narendra Modi and Nitish Kumar, and Lalu Yadav sandwich in between. Once the golden boy of Bihar, Nitish failed to attract industries into the state and create jobs. Traditionally, Lalu Yadav voters and Ram Vilas Paswan voters are seen transferable. Getting Ram Vilas Paswan and Koiri leader Upendra Kushwaha on its side, BJP is just trying to add major chunk of 6 % Paswan and 5 % Koiri voters to its arsenal. The seven seats going to polls are – Munger, Nalanda, Patna Sahib, Patliputra, Arrah, Buxar and Jahanabad.

 

Maharashtra: Maharashtra is set to see a bitter fight between Congress-NCP combine and BJP-Sena, with Raj Thackeray playing spoil sport. While the saffron alliance is geared up to cash in on the Modi wave, the Thackeray cousins could well prove to be the trump card. The cousins face allegations of splitting the Marathi vote by not coming together. Raj Thackeray’s MNS spoiled the chances of BJP-Shiv Sena combine in the 2009 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. He got 13% of the votes and played the spoil sport for BJP-SS alliance on the 11 seats. The Congress-NCP alliance won all those 11 seats. The 12 constituencies going to polls are: Maval, Pune, Baramati, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, Solapur, Madha, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Hatkanangale.

 

Rajasthan: Congress and BJP suffer a complete reversal of fortunes in Rajasthan with the latter aiming for a clean sweep in upcoming elections. Opinion polls predict BJP to win 21 seats compared to 4 in 2009 and Congress to be routed, managing a meagre 3 seats. Contests to watch are Barmer, with Jaswant Singh and the newly inducted Col Sonaram Choudhary, both defectors. Celebrities include Olympic medallion Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore contesting on a BJP ticket from Jaipur Rural as well as former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin for Congress.  The newly appointed Congress state president Sachin Pilot’s reputation is ar stake in Ajmer.

Karnataka: Karnataka is one of the few states Congress is hoping to win. Despite being BJP’s one hope in the south, Congress is predicted to win 14 out of the 28 seats, 8 more than last time. BJP, which had a stellar performance in 2009 winning 19 seats are only expected to win 12 while JDS wraps up the remaining two. The most keenly anticipated contest is between Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and five-time BJP MP Ananth Kumar. Other interesting contests include former Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa going up against current Chief Minister S Bangarappa’s daughter, Githa Shivarajkumar.

Prominent contestants such as Union Minister M Veerappa Moily, H D Kumaraswamy N Dharam Singh and D V Sadananda Gowda, all of whom are former Chief Ministers, will also be involved.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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