Lucknow, April 29 (IANS) The next round of the Lok Sabha battle in Uttar Pradesh April 30 will involve 14 constituencies including those of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her BJP counterpart Rajnath Singh.
The political future of three union ministers - Sriprakash Jaiswal, Pradip Jain Aditya and Jitin Prasad - will also be decided by the voters that day.
Also in contention is veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who, having been eased out of Varanasi by prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, will face the electorate in Kanpur.
The other contenders include former Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow, and P.L. Puniya, bureaucrat-turned politician and chairman of the SC/ST Commission, who is seeking re-election from Barabanki, a seat neighbouring Lucknow.
The most watched contest will be in Rae Bareli from where the Congress chief is seeking her third consecutive term.
Busy with campaigning for the party elsewhere, her campaign is being handled by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra who has been camping in the constituency for the last one week.
Sonia Gandhi is locked in a battle with Supreme Court lawyer and activist Ajay Agarwal of the BJP, Pravesh Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party and Archana Srivastava of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
The Samajwadi Party has not fielded a candidate in Rae Bareli.
In Lucknow, the contest is between BJP chief Rajnath Singh, Abhishek Mishra, the science and technology minister in the Akhilesh Yadav government, Nakul Dubey of the BSP and Rita Bahuguna Joshi.
Joshi is currently a legislator from Lucknow Cantonment. TV artist Jaaved Jaaferi is the AAP contestant from the city.
Lucknow was represented by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee five times in the Lok Sabha.
Rajnath Singh, who is contesting from Lucknow this time, was a Lok Sabha member from Ghaziabad.
In Kanpur, the battle will be between union coal minister Jaiswal and Murli Manohar Joshi.
While Joshi initially faced hostility from local BJP leaders, things have now settled down for him.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded trader-leader Surendra Mohan Agarwal in Kanpur. Mehmood Hasan, an eye surgeon, is the AAP candidate, while the BSP has pitted Muslim leader Salim Ahmad.
The region of Bundelkhand, the impoverished and parched area of Uttar Pradesh, will also vote Wednesday.
BJP's firebrand leader Uma Bharti is contesting from Jhansi constituency. Outgoing MP Pradip Jain Aditya, Anuradha Verma (BSP), Chandrapal Singh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Archana Gupta (AAP) are also in the fray.
Jitin Prasad, considered close to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, is the party candidate from Dhaurahra.
Polling has already taken place for 33 seats in the state. A total of 33 constituencies remain, of which 15 will vote May 7, while the last 18 will go to the polls May 12.
The total number of voters Wednesday is around 24 million, of which 13 million are males and 10.9 million are females. They will vote in 25,380 polling station across the state.
Of the constituencies that will vote Wednesday, six are held by the Congress, four by the Samajwadi Party, three by the BSP and one by the BJP.
The 14 seats going to the polls are Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Kanpur, Jhansi, Hamirpur, Banda, Jalaun, Mohanlalganj, Unnao, Sitapur, Misrikh, Dhaurahra, Fatehpur and Barabanki.
8 big changes from April 1: Subsidy on home loan interest ends, investment also scissors; You will have to pay more tax on the highway
The financial year 2022-23 is starting from 1st April i.e. tomorrow. With this, many rules will also change. These will have an impact on our earnings, expenses, and investments.
IPL 2024: These players will target T20 World Cup through the league, and will push to join Team India
IPL has always been special for cricketers, but this time it will be different. Along with the title, the eyes of leading Indian cricketers will also be on the T20 World Cup team. Especially Virat
Colombia: Four children survived by eating seeds, roots, and plants for 40 days in the Amazon forest, went missing in a plane crash
Forty days ago a plane crashed in the Amazon jungles of Colombia. After this incident, news came that all the people aboard the plane were killed. It is now reported that four children aboard this
Meeting: Finance Minister's meeting with the officials of public sector banks on June 20, there will be talk on NPA and loan increase
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold a meeting with the officials of public sector banks on June 20. In this, she will review the performance of banks and the progress of all the schemes
Pathan: Shahrukh Khan returned to Mumbai after completing the shooting of the film, the actor's special style was shown at the airport
Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan is in the news these days for his upcoming film 'Pathan'. Shahrukh is again making a comeback in the industry through this film. For the past several days, the shooting
How did 'Kaun Banega Crorepati' shoot without the audience?
Earlier, on the stage of \'Kaun Banega Crorepati\' (KBC), Bollywood veteran actor and host of the show Amitabh Bachchan used to shake hands with the participants very warmly and even hug him but now
Delhi's Bengali Market Sealed Over 3 COVID-19 Cases, 35 Found On Shop Roof
नई दिल्ली: राजधानी के बीचो-बीच एक लोकप्रिय पारिवारिक अड्डा बंगाली मार्केट
Auction of telecom spectrum concludes after 19 days
New Delhi, March 25 (IANS) After 19 days of rigorous bidding, the auction of airwaves for telecom operators concluded Wednesday, with officials initially placing the figure of cumulative bids at
Government reaches out to opposition ahead of budget session
New Delhi, Feb 22 (IANS) The NDA government Sunday reached out to the opposition ahead of the budget session with Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu meeting Congress president Sonia
U-turn of corona virus is frightening, more than 100 died in America, only one case confirmed in Wuhan
Corona virus is not taking the name of death in the world. About two lakh people have been infected worldwide by this deadly virus and about 7,900 people have died. In a developed country like