The campaigning for the fifth phase of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections concluded on May 18. A total of 49 seats, including the high-profile constituencies of Amethi and Raebareli, will vote in this phase on May 20.
The seats up for voting in this phase include 14 from Uttar Pradesh, 13 from Maharashtra, seven from West Bengal, five each from Bihar and Odisha, three from Jharkhand, and one each from Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
With the completion of the fifth phase of voting, elections for 428 out of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats will be concluded.
There are a total of 695 candidates contesting for the 49 seats in the fifth phase.
Key candidates in this phase include Defence Minister Rajnath Singh from Lucknow, Rahul Gandhi of the Congress from Rae Bareli, Smriti Irani from Amethi, Dinesh Pratap Singh from the BJP (Minister of State for Horticulture in the Yogi government), and Karan Bhushan Singh, son of Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, from Kaiserganj. Of these, 13 seats are currently held by the BJP, while only Rae Bareli is held by Congress.
Key battles in Phase 5:
Raebareli
Rahul Gandhi, who also contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, is facing Congress defector and three-time MLC Dinesh Pratap Singh of the BJP in Raebareli. Rahul represented Amethi from 2004 until 2019.
Amethi
Congress leader Kishori Lal Sharma, also the Gandhi family’s close aide has been fielded against Smriti Irani in Amethi.
Lucknow
Defence Minister and BJP candidate Rajnath Singh will face Samajwadi Party candidate Ravidas Mehrotra in this seat. Rajnath Singh will be aiming for a third straight win in Lucknow.
Mumbai North
The BJP has fielded Union Minister Piyush Goyal against Congress’ Bhushan Patil from the Mumbai North seat.
Hajipur
LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan is aiming to carry forward father Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy. He is pitted against RJD’s Shiv Chandra Ram.
Saran
Rohini Acharya, the daughter of Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, is contesting against BJP MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy.
Baramulla
National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah is pitted against Sajad Lone of the Peoples Conference (PC) and Mir Mohammad Fayaz of Peoples Democratic Party.
After the fifth phase, only two more rounds of voting will be left which will take place on May 25 and June 1.
The results will be out on June 4.