Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Phase 4: Six Key Electoral Battles to Watch Out in This Round of Polls

The fourth phase of the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections will take place on April 29. With the votes being already cast for 302 seats, it will be interesting how the electorate casts their vote in the second half of General Elections 2019. The voter turnout in the first three phases of 2019 Lok Sabha Polls have been decent so far, and how it changes in the subsequent fourth to seventh phase elections will be an intriguing watch. Phase 4 Campaigning Ends, 72 Seats Set to Go to Polls on Monday

After the first three phases, the BJP is confident of forming the government already; whereas, on the other hand the Opposition parties are a bit less vocal in their attack on PM Narendra Modi. However, nothing is ascertain, as they say, one cannot predict anything until the last vote in the EVM is counted.

Like Phase 1, Phase 2, and Phase 3, the fourth phase of Elections 2019 also brings a lot of key battles into the fray. A slew of politicians’ fate will be sealed on April 29. As the time ticks away, we bring you a list of six key battles which has create a buzz amongst the political circles in the country.

Asansol, West Bengal

The constituency of Asansol in West Bengal will see a two-way fight between sitting MP Babul Supriyo of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Moon Moon Sen of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, it was Babul Supriyo who turned heads with his rousing victory in Asansol. He not only defeated two-time MP Bansa Gopal Chowdhury of Communist Party of India – Marxist (CPI-M), but also defeated the second-placed Trinamool Congress’ candidate Dola Sen by over 50,000 votes.

The seat of Asansol used to be a bastion of the CPI-M. Since the first elections in the constituency in 1957, the party has won a majority of 10 times. The Congress party, too, has had a fair bit of success as they have won five times.

However, the battle in Asansol is an exciting one this time, as TMC’s Moon Moon Sen is considered a ‘giant-slayer’, after she defeated 9-time MP Basudeb Acharia in Bankura – a Left bastion – in 2014.

Begusarai, Bihar

The constituency of Begusarai in Bihar is popularly known as the ‘Leningrad of India’ due to strong presence of Left Front in the region. However, that hasn’t reflected much in the electoral success.

Begusarai will, perhaps, witness a mother of all battles in the Phase 4. It will be a two-way fight between CPI-M’s Kanhaiya Kumar and BJP’s Giriraj Singh.

In 2014 General Elections, it was BJP’s Dr. Bhola Singh who had won the seat with a victory margin of over 50,000 votes. The second-placed Rashtriya Janata Dal’s (RJD) Tanveer Hassan garnered 34.31% votes, while BJP won the seat with the vote share of 35.72%. CPI’s candidate was placed third with a vote share of only 11.87%.

The parliamentary constituency of Begusarai has been a happy hunting ground for the Congress as it has won 8 times out of the 16 times the elections were held here since 1952. However, the last time they won the seat was in 1998.

A lot has changed in the last 20 years. A lot more has changed in the last 5 years. The emergence of a student’s union president to become the ‘face’ of the leftist ideology, it will be interesting to see if Kanhaiya Kumar’s popularity in the region brings him electoral success against the BJP veteran Giriraj Singh, or not.

Mumbai South, Maharashtra

The constituency of Mumbai South in Maharashtra will witness a two-way clash too. ON the one side of the electoral battle will be sitting MP Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena, while on the other side it will be Milind Deora of the Congress party.

In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, it was Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant who won with a victory margin of over 120,000+ votes over the second placed Congress’ Milind Deora, who garnered 246,045 votes. The third-placed MNS’ Bala Nandgaonkar got a vote margin of 19.87% votes.

In the 16 elections held here since 1952, the Congress party has won the elections 10 times; whereas, the BJP has won here for three times. Milind Deora has himself won here twice.

The poll battle of Mumbai South has got exciting especially after MIlind Deora got endorsements from billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Uday Kotak. Who’s seat will it be this time?

Mumbai North-Central, Maharashtra

Priya Dutt, who had earlier opted out of the electoral race, later agreed to contest as the Congress candidate from the seat. In 2014, she was defeated from the constituency by Poonam Mahajan.

The constituency was once a bastion of the Dutt family, with Priya's father later actor-politician Sunil Dutt representing the seat several times during his political career.

After his death, Priya Dutt was elected from the seat with a resounding mandate in 2009. However, the Narendra Modi wave of 2014 swept the constituency away from the Congress.

Palghar, Maharashtra

The seat of Palghar will witness a two-way fight between Rajendra Gavit of Shiv Sena and Raju Lade of Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi (BVA). A victory in this constituency will be simply more than just a win here.

In 2014 General Elections, it was Chintaman Vanaga of BJP who won the seat by a victory margin of a whopping 200,000+ votes. The second placed BVA’s candidate was polled 293,681 votes, while the third place CPI-M candidate got a 7.75% vote share.

However, it was a prestige battle between BJP and Shiv Sena during the by election in 2018, which was won by the former by nearly 30,000 votes.

The symbolic importance of Palghar constituency can be determined from the fact that the seat was the bone of contention in the NDA alliance of BJP and Shiv Sena. Also, both Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have decided to support the BVA candidate. It’ll be interesting to see who wins the ‘Battle of Plassey Palghar’.

Unnao, Uttar Pradesh

The constituency of Unnao will witness a three-way contest between sitting MP Sakshi Maharaj of BJP, Arun Shukla of Samajwadi Party (SP), and Annu Tandon of Congress.

In 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, it was BJP’s Sakshi Maharaj who the seat extravagantly after he was polled over 500,000+ votes. The vote share was more than the second and third-placed SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates’ share combine. Arun Shukla of SP got 208,661 votes, while Brajesh Pathak of BSP got 200,176 votes.

It is on this math that this poll battle has got exciting. The SP-BSP alliance is banking on the consolidation of the vote share and hoping that their tally eclipses BJP candidate Sakshi Maharaj’s. To complicate the calculation, there’s Congress’ Annu Tandon who has been a former MP of this constituency in 2009.

With so many complications and how BJP swept UP in 2017 Assembly Elections, a lot has happened in the last five years. It’ll be interesting to see the ‘Bua-Bhateeja’ alliance is able to trump BJP’s candidate.

A total of 71 seats and a quarter (of Anantnag) will go polling on April 29. With so many interesting battles lined up for Phase 4, tell us in the comments section below, who will win in these battles. For more news and latest updates, stay tuned to LatestLY.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 27, 2019 05:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).