JOIN USVaranasi will hog the limelight on Monday when, along with 40 other constituencies across three states, it will go to polls in the ninth and final phase, marking the end of the balloting for the 16th Lok Sabha elections, which had begun on April 7.
Altogether, 6,61,31,802 voters are expected to decide the fate of 606 candidates in 41 seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. All eyes, however, will be on Varanasi, where the BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is contesting against Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal and Congress’ Ajai Rai. Modi is also contesting from Gujarat’s Vadodara constituency that went to polls on April 30.
Varanasi was at the centre of a tussle between the BJP and the Election Commission (EC) last week.
The BJP has written to the EC expressing apprehension that the ruling Samajwadi Party’s activists might try to disrupt polling in Varanasi on Monday. The CPM, too, submitted a memorandum to the poll panel on Sunday, expressing similar apprehensions about the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.
Both parties have asked the EC to step up security and deploy special observers to prevent electoral malpractices.
The first eight phases of the elections have brought it close to a record, as the 502 constituencies that have gone to polls so far recorded a turnout of 66.27 per cent. EC officials say if the turnout does not fall steeply in the ninth phase, the voting ratio would surely cross the 1984 record of 64.01 per cent.
The officials said 1,45,031 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) would be placed to record votes in 71,254 polling stations of 41 constituencies on Monday. Altogether, 2,41,255 personnel have been deployed to ensure smooth conduct of polling.
Campaigning ahead of the last phase was marked by the BJP’s sharp criticism of the EC after it was denied permission for a rally addressed by Modi at the Benia Bagh ground in Varanasi on Thursday. District Magistrate and Returning Officer of the constituency, Pranjal Yadav, denied permission over concerns on security, suitability and capacity of the ground.
The row also highlighted disquiet within the EC as an interview of H S Brahma, one of its three members, to a TV channel on Saturday fuelled speculation about his differences with Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath on certain issues. The EC later denied any rift, claiming it took all decisions “in unanimity”.
The 18 constituencies in UP that go to polls on Monday also include Azamgarh, where SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting is pitted against sitting BJP MP Ramakant Yadav and the Bahujan Samaj Party's Shah Alam Guddu Jamali.
Among the six constituencies going to polls in Bihar, Bollywood personality Prakash Jha is contesting the Pashchim Champaran seat on a JD(U) ticket, and former Union minister and senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Raghubansh Prasad Singh is seeking re-election from Vaishali.