Lalganj Lok Sabha constituency, one of the 80 seats in Lok Sabha, goes to polls in the sixth phase of general elections on May 12. The constituency is one of the two seats in Azamgarh district of UP. While the Azamgarh Lalganj Lok Sabha constituency is facing a contest between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua', this Scheduled caste reserved seat is also being heatly contested.
The constituency has stayed a reserved seat for scheduled caste candidates since it came into existence in 1962. In five elections from 1996 to 2009, the seat has oscillated between Samajwadi Party's Daroga Prasad Saroj and Bahujan Samaj Party's Balli Ram. While Balli Ram won it in 1996, 1999 and 2009, Saroj won its 1998 and 2004. However, the BJP scored its first victory here with Neelam Sonkar defeating SP's Bechai Saroj by 84,000 votes.
This time, the seat has gone to BSP under the alliance's seat-sharing arrangement and the party has fielded Sangeeta Azad from here. She is the wife of BSP MLA Arimardan Azad and daughter-in-law of Gandhi Azad.
The Congress has fielded Pankaj Mohan Sonkar against BSP's Azad and BJP's Neelam Sonkar.
The parliamentary constituency comprises five Assembly segments, namely Atrauliya, Nizamabad, Phoolpur Pawai, Didarganj and Lalganj (all in Azamgarh district).
UP is facing a triangular battle between the BJP, the Congress and BSP-SP-RLD alliance. Under the alliance's seat-sharing formula, the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is contesting on 38 Lok Sabha seats of the total 80 seats, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party on 37 seats and the Chaudhary Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on three seats. The alliance has left two for Congress' Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi).
In sixth phase of Lok Sabha polling, 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh - Sultanpur, Pratapgarh, Phulpur, Allahabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Shrawasti, Domariyaganj, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Lalganj, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Machhlishahr and Bhadohi - are going for polls.
Of these seats, 13 were won by the BJP in 2014 elections with only Azamgarh going to the Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The counting of votes of the Lok Sabha election 2019 will be conducted on May 23.
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