Going just by the number of constituencies, Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections may seem like the least important one because only 49 seats will be voting. One look at some of the constituencies and names included in the list, however, reveals how important the phase actually is. 

Here are some of the key battles that will take place today:

Rahul Gandhi vs Dinesh Pratap Singh 

Having suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the BJP’s Smriti Irani in 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting again from Uttar Pradesh for his second seat, in addition to Kerala’s Wayanad. Instead of Amethi, which he has represented as an MP thrice, Mr Gandhi has opted to fight from the family’s last remaining bastion in the state, Raebareli, which was won by his mother, Sonia Gandhi, five times. 

Facing off against him is the BJP’s Dinesh Pratap Singh, a former Congress leader who switched in 2018 and lost to Sonia Gandhi in the general elections the year after that by a margin of about 1.7 lakh votes. Mr Singh’s family is seen to have a good hold on Raebareli and he has said that the departure of the “fake Gandhis” from the constituency is certain. 

Smriti Irani vs KL Sharma

In 2019, the BJP’s Smriti Irani managed to convince voters in Amethi, a Gandhi family bastion, that she was a better alternative than their three-time MP Rahul Gandhi. With no one from the Gandhi family contesting from the constituency this time, Ms Irani, who is also a Union minister, has said an “ordinary BJP worker” has sent “the first family of Indian politics” packing. 

Her opponent from the seat is Congress’ KL Sharma, a Gandhi family loyalist who has worked in the constituency for nearly 40 years. Winning in Amethi would be crucial for the Congress, which had managed to achieve victory only in one seat in Uttar Pradesh in 2019, down from the two it had won in 2014.

Rajnath Singh vs Ravidas Mehrotra

Lucknow is a prestige constituency for the BJP because former Prime Minister and one of its biggest leaders, Atal Bihari Vajpayee had won it five times. It is also a party bastion and the BJP has held it since 1991. Defence Minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh contested from Lucknow for the first time in 2014 and won again in 2019, with his vote margin rising by 70,000 between the two elections.

The main contest this time is between Mr Singh, who is also a former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Ravidas Mehrotra of the Samajwadi Party, which is fighting the elections in an alliance with the Congress. Mr Mehrotra is the MLA from Lucknow Central and is confident despite facing an uphill battle. “The biggest giants have fallen before the people and this is an election. You never know what can happen,” he has said.

Omar Abdullah vs Sajad Lone vs Engineer Rashid

Jammu and Kashmir’s five seats are voting in five phases and today is the turn of Baramulla. An enthusiastic campaign is being run by all sides and the contest between the National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, People’s Conference Chairperson Sajad Lone and jailed leader Abdul Rashid Sheikh aka Engineer Rashid, who is contesting as an Independent, is a keenly watched one. 

Mr Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, who has also won from the Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency thrice, has been one of the staunchest opponents of the abrogation of Article 370, which granted special status to the erstwhile state. His campaign is centred around the Centre’s 2019 move and the threat it poses to the existence and identity of the people in the Union Territory.

The National Conference leader has accused Mr Lone of being the proxy candidate for the BJP, which is not contesting any of the three seats in the Kashmir region. The People’s Conference chief is being supported by Altaf Bukhari’s Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party and has also got tacit support from the BJP, which has asked people in Kashmir to vote for anyone but the National Conference and its former ally, the Peoples Democratic Party, which is headed by Mehbooba Mufti. 

Queering the pitch for both senior leaders is Engineer Rashid, whose campaign, run by his son, 26-year-old son Abrar Rashid, is seeing a surprising amount of traction. Engineer Rashid is in jail in a terror funding case and Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Democratic Progressive Azad Party has also announced support for him. 

Piyush Goyal vs Bhushan Patil

Maharashtra is seeing a unique election this time with two of its biggest regional parties, the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), being split and their factions facing off against each other. The BJP is allied with the Eknath Shinde group of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP while the Congress is part of an alliance with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).

As part of its decision to make as many ministers as possible contest the Lok Sabha polls, Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industries, has been fielded from the Mumbai North Constituency. The leader of the Rajya Sabha is contesting his first Lok Sabha election and has been labelled an “outsider”, a tag he has strongly contested. What is working in his favour, however, is that the constituency is seen as one of the BJP’s strongest in Maharashtra and had been won by a margin of 4.6 lakh votes in 2019.  

Mr Patil, who is the vice president of the Mumbai Congress, has said there is no such thing as a strong seat and that he will emerge as a giant killer. The Congress leader said he has risen up the ranks in the party from the grassroots, is a “son of the soil” and has worked in the region for decades.

Amethi:

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday attacked BJP’s Amethi Lok Sabha seat candidate and sitting MP Smriti Irani, alleging that the region has “suffered” in the last five years as the BJP never thought about its development.

She was here to seek support for Congress’ candidate from the seat Kishori Lal Sharma, who she said has “dedicated his entire life to Amethi”. Priyanka Gandhi, who is the general secretary in the Congress, held a roadshow in Jasi town on the last day of campaigning for the seat that goes to polls on May 20 in the fifth round of the seven-phase general elections.

“He (Sharma) has been associated with Amethi for the last 40 years. He was associated with my father (Rajiv Gandhi) here, he also worked with my mother (Sonia Gandhi) and my elder brother Rahul Gandhi. He has dedicated his entire life to Amethi,” she said while addressing a gathering.

During the roadshow, which began from the Jais bus stand and ended at the Navjeet Intersection, Priyanka Gandhi and Sharma were seen waving at and greeting people from a vehicle. Flower petals were showered on them as the vehicle passed through the town.

“Amethi is my home and family, we have never stayed away from it and never will,” said Priyanka Gandhi, who was in Amethi and Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh to campaign for Sharma and Rahul Gandhi, respectively.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Rahul Gandhi had contested from Wayanad in Kerala and Amethi. He won from Wayanad but lost Amethi to Irani.

Targeting Ms Irani, the Congress leader said, “Amethi has suffered a lot in the last five years…” and “these people never thought about its development”. “Rahul was defeated (in 2019) as they mislead you,” she said.

“We understand our responsibility because Amethi is my home and family. We will keep working for this family. Along with Kishori Lal Sharma ji, Rahul Gandhi has also said this is my family and I will keep working for Amethi and Rae Bareli,” Priyanka Gandhi said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Congress’s Rahul Gandhi has shifted to Uttar Pradesh’s Raebareli, leaving Amethi to family loyalist and party leader KL Sharma. But he was the opponent who is being targeted by the BJP’s Union minister Smriti Irani, the sitting MP of Amethi. Ms Irani, who wrested Amethi from Rahul Gandhi in 2019, is hoping for a second consecutive term.  

Speaking at a rally today, Ms Irani targeted Mr Gandhi over a Pakistani leader’s comments in his support.

“Till now I used to contest against Congress candidates, but now a Pakistani leader has said, ‘Smriti Irani should be defeated,” Ms Irani said to loud cheers.

“I thought ‘You cannot handle Pakistan, you are worrying about Amethi?’ If my voice is reaching the Pakistani leader, I want to say that this is Amethi, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has built a factory of AK 203 rifles. That rifle is used to kill Pakistani terrorists on the border,” she added.

Then came the attack on Mr Gandhi. “Today I want to ask, ‘What is this relationship between Pakistan and Rahul Gandhi? Elections are going on in the country but you (Rahul Gandhi) are getting support from them and did not condemn it,” she added.

Last week, former Pakistan minister Chaudhry Fawad Hussain had praised Rahul Gandhi in a post on social media. Mr Gandhi since has been targeted by the BJP on this issue. Most leaders, starting with PM Modi, had questioned his “Pakistan connection”.

Last week, PM Modi had alleged a “partnership” between the Congress and Pakistan, saying it now stands “fully exposed”.

“You must have come to know that a Pakistani leader is offering prayers for the Congress. Pakistan is impatient to make Shehzada (Rahul Gandhi) the Prime Minister… And we know that the Congress is a disciple of Pakistan,” he had said.  

Mr Gandhi, who has contested from Wayanad, was announced last week as the candidate for Raebareli, the constituency vacated by his mother Sonia Gandhi as she shifted to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Gandhi was widely expected to attempt to win back Amethi, which sent him to the Lok Sabha thrice. His shift to Raebareli – described by many Congress leaders as a strategic move – had drawn jabs from the BJP. PM Modi had said Mr Gandhi should not run but stand and fight.

Kochi:

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday took a swipe at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi saying he is the “political master” of his party and that “arrogance” caused his defeat in Amethi, a seat that the grand old party had held “as a family” for over four decades.

Ms Irani, the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, further said that the alliance of opposition parties today on the national front was one she had fought in Amethi in 2019 when she defeated Rahul Gandhi.

The minister was responding to a query from the audience during the Manorama News Conclave 2023 organised by the Malayalam Manorama group here as to why BJP was unable to win a seat in Kerala and whether she would compete against Mr Gandhi to remedy the same.

Answering the query, Ms Irani said, “Rahul Gandhi is the political master of the Congress party and I am a political ‘karyakarta’ (worker) of the BJP. There is a huge political difference between being a political master and a worker.

“I think it is that arrogance that has ensured that the Congress party, even in a Lok Sabha constituency called Amethi, in the past four-and-a-half years that I have been an MP from there, out of five assembly constituencies has lost the security deposit in four,” she added. 

She said that, in 2019, Congress had over four lakh votes in Amethi, “which they held as a family for close to four decades”, and now that has been reduced to 1.2 lakh.

“I think is indicative that though there has been a decadal stronghold in many pockets by opposition parties. It takes time, but eventually the BJP’s karyakarta does manage to gain victory,” the Union minister said.

She also pointed out that in the 2019 LS polls, Congress did not fight alone in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh.

“They fought with the support of the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. So the alliance you see today on the national front is an alliance I have fought in 2019 in Amethi,” she said.

Regarding the INDIA bloc, Ms Irani also said that if you look closely at the “amalgamation” of political forces, “the fissures and fractures amongst them are more than obvious”.

She further said that all the opposition parties coming together with the purpose of defeating Narendra Modi was the biggest indication that he would get re-elected for a third term.

“One was not enough, they needed multiple political forces to challenge this one political leader. If that does not give you an indication of the impending success electorally in 2024, what more would you ask for,” she said in response to a query regarding PM Modi’s remark sometime back that he would get a third term.

On a query from the audience from a Congress member as to whether the Women’s Reservation Bill was an “election stunt” and would it be implemented, Ms Irani said that first delimitation has to happen which can only take place in 2026, according to Article 82 of the Constitution.

She claimed that when the Congress had introduced the Bill, it did not contain the process to implement the reservation for women.

After the Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha where the BJP supported it, the Congress left it pending in the Lok Sabha for four years despite having the numbers to push it through, the minister claimed.

“The Congress never had the intention of passing it,” she alleged.

Ms Irani further said that, under the Bill proposed by the Congress, women could fight in only two elections, while under the BJP’s legislation, the reservation would be available for 15 years – which means three terms.

After that, it would come back to Parliament again to decide whether women have received the political parity that the Bill desires to ensure, she said.

“Which means the BJP did not leave it open-ended. So read Article 82 of the Constitution,” Ms Irani said to the Congress member who raised the query regarding the Bill. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New Delhi:

Union Minister Smriti Irani praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the historic day of passing the women’s reservation bill in parliament.

“It’s not only a moment of great joy and jubilation, but it is also a moment of great satisfaction,” she told NDTV.

Ms Irani criticised the previous Congress government for “allowing the bill to lapse”. She said the Congress should “walk the talk”.

The women’s reservation bill sailed through the Upper House this evening, scripting history after decades of roadblocks. It now needs the signature of the President to make 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies official.

“What smacks of absolute arrogance on behalf of the Congress party then was they had absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. If they desired, they could have passed the bill between 2010 and 2014. They allow it to lapse, and they pontificate why not sooner,” Ms Irani said.

The bill received unanimous support from the Rajya Sabha. There were no abstentions and no negative votes. The bill had cleared the Lok Sabha yesterday with the support of 454 MPs. Only Two MPs voted against it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, present in the Upper House for the voting and passing of the bill, said, “The debates were very successful. In the future as well, this debate will help us all. Thank everyone for their support to the bill. The spirit will give birth to new self-esteem among Indians”.

Once implemented, the number of women members in the Lok Sabha will increase from the current 82 to 181. Besides, 33 per cent seats will be reserved for women in the state assemblies also.

New Delhi:

Union Minister Smriti Irani on Tuesday said that through the women’s reservation bill the foundation of a new India has been laid and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for “finding a solution to years of struggle”. 

Speaking to PTI outside Parliament, she also called the bill a historic initiative. This will lead to women’s empowerment from a leadership perspective, the women and child development minister said.

“Through the women’s reservation bill…the foundation of a new India has been laid. During Ganesh Chaturthi, it is believed that any resolution taken will reach its conclusion, and today, PM Modi has dedicated the Narishakti Vandan Bill to the country. I want to thank him for finding solution to years of struggle,” Ms Irani said.

The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, reviving the concept of women’s reservation pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties. Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047. The bill be named Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)