Heated Campaigning Concludes for Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha Elections

Campaigning for 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Modi's Varanasi, ended on Thursday. With polling on June 1, 144 candidates, including prominent figures like Anupriya Patel and Neeraj Shekhar, are contesting. The BJP campaigned on issues like Muslim reservation while the opposition focused on saving the Constitution.

Campaigning for the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi, and a by-election for the state Assembly ended on Thursday. The polling on these seats will be held on June 1.

There are 144 candidates in the poll fray for the Lok Sabha constituencies in this phase, comprising 134 male and 10 female candidates. Six candidates are competing for the Duddhi (ST) Assembly by-election in Sonbhadra district, Uttar Pradesh Chief Election Officer Navdeep Rinwa said.

Out of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in the state under the seventh phase, 11 belong to the general category, and two are reserved for scheduled castes. The 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in this phase are - Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria, Bansgaon (SC), Ghosi, Salempur, Ballia, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, and Robertsganj (SC), which are spread across 11 districts.

The prominent candidates in fray, besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, include Union minister and Apna Dal (S) leader Anupriya Patel from Mirzapur, former prime minister Chandrashekhar's son Neeraj Shekhar from Ballia, Mukhtar Ansari's brother Afzal Ansari from Ghazipur, Union minister Mahendra Nath Pandey from Chandauli, Union minister Pankaj Chaudhary from Maharajganj, and Bhojpuri actor Ravi Kishan from Gorakhpur.

PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, INDIA bloc leaders Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav actively campaigned in this phase to garner support for their candidates.

While the BJP tried to drive home its allegations that the INDIA bloc will bring in Muslim reservation and put 'Babri lock' in Ayodhya's Ram temple, the Opposition urged people to vote to ''save the Constitution''.