Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Phase 5 poll campaigns end as BJP, I.N.D.I.A. bloc lock horns on 'budget quota for Muslims'

New Delhi: The campaign for the Phase 5 of Lok Sabha elections, including for Gandhi family bastions Raebareli and Amethi, ended on Saturday, amid the ruling BJP and Opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc heightening their campaign rhetoric.

A total of 49 seats in eight states and union territories are heading to polling booths on Monday, and the high profile candidates in this phase include Congress’ Rahul Gandhi (Raebareli), BJP’s Smrti Irani (Amethi), Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (Lucknow), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal (Mumbai North), Omar Abdullah (Baramulla) and RJD’s Rohini Acharya (Saran).

Of these 49 Lok Sabha seats, BJP had won 32 while the Congress had won only from Raebareli in 2019. This time, BJP is contesting in 40 seats while Congress is fighting in only 18 of these seats, leaving the rest to its allies in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar.

In 2019, parties in the I.N.D.I.A had won only six seats while BJD had won two and the BJP-led NDA had bagged 41.

This will be the phase where the least number of seats is going to polls. The next phases will be on May 25 and June 1 while the counting of votes will be on June 4. In this phase, 695 candidates, including 82 women, are in the fray.

The most-watched contest will be in Raebareli where Rahul is contesting and Amethi where the Gandhi family has fielded loyalist Kishori Lal Sharma to regain the seat from Irani who won last time.

Rahul visited Raebareli twice after filing nominations, leaving the campaign command in the hands of Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. She is camping in Raebareli and coordinating the campaign in both the seats.

All the seats in Mumbai metro are also going to polls in this phase. The polling process in Maharashtra will end with this phase. With this, the polling process in 25 states and union territories.

During the campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Congress claiming that the UPA government wanted to earmark 15% of budget allocation to Muslims, a claim which was denied by the main Opposition party.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge added one more promise to his party’s guarantees when he said that the poor will get 10 kg of free grains in ration instead of existing 5 kg.

In this phase, AAP faced trouble as one of its Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal accused AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s aide Bibhav Kumar of assaulting her inside Delhi Chief Minister’s official residence.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also created some flutter when she said her party would provide only outside support to I.N.D.I.A. bloc when it forms the government, though she later softened her stand.