During the runup to the fourth phase, PM Modi chose to continue his onslaught on Congress over the issues of corruption and wealth re-distribution, the opposition INDIA block received a major advantage as the Supreme Court granted interim bail to Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for campaigning.
All 25 seats in Andhra Pradesh and 17 constituencies in Telangana will go to polls in this phase. Polling will also take place in 13 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 11 in Maharashtra, 8 in West Bengal, 8 in Madhya Pradesh, 5 in Bihar, 4 each in Jharkhand and Odisha as well as one seat in Jammu and Kashmir.
All eyes will be on UP’s Kannauj as Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is in the fray from this seat. The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh will be contesting against Bhartiya Janata Party’s Subrat Pathak.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress’ leader Mahua Moitra will also be contesting from the Krishnanagar constituency. Hyderabad is also bracing itself for the big showdown between Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Madhavi Latha and sitting All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi for the Lok Sabha election.
Other key constituencies to go to polls in the first Phase
- Bihar- Begusarai
- Bihar- Munger
- Jharkhand- Khunti
- Andhra Pradesh- Kadapa
- Andhra Pradesh- Visakhapatnam
- Mahararashtra- Pune
- Maharashtra- Ahmadnagar
- UP-Kanpur
- Maharashtra- Ahmadnagar
- Jammu & Kashmir-Srinagar
- Jammu & Kashmir- Anantnag
Campaigning heats up
The run up to the fourth phase polling saw the Election Commission and Opposition INDIA bloc entering into a spat over delay in release of voter turnout data. The poll body accused Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge of creating impediments in the conduct of free and fair elections and said that Kharge’s allegations are unwarranted, without facts and ‘reflective of a biased and deliberate attempt to spread confusion’.
During the campaigning, Congress chief Kharge and Rahul Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Modi after he accused the grand old party of striking a “deal” with Ambani and Adani and claimed that the party received “tempo loads of money from Adani and Ambani” in exchange for Gandhi’s silence on the issue.
Former Congress president replied to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s allegations and challenged the PM to initiate a CBI or ED investigation into the matter.
Moreover, Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his onslaught against the INDIA block and attacked the Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray factions of NCP and Shiv Sena and claimed that “duplicate NCP and Shiv Sena” have made up their minds to merge with the Congress after the June 4 Lok Sabha election results.
Additionally, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal got a huge relief amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections as Supreme Court granted him bail till June 1 for campaigning. Kejriwal has been lodged in Tihar Jail in an alleged money laundering case in connection with the now-scrapped Delhi Excise policy.
The Lok Sabha polls are set to unfold in seven stages over a 44-day period. The counting of votes will take place on June 4.