The nomination process for the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh in 8 Lok Sabha seats in the state’s western parts will end on Wednesday.
Though 3 prominent political factions — NDA, INDI alliance, and the BSP — have announced their candidates, most of them will file their nominations on the last day.
The scrutiny of the nominations will be done on Thursday and candidates can withdraw their papers till Saturday. Polling for the first phase will be held on April 19.
Polling in the first phase will be held in Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit seats.
A total of 1.43 crore voters, comprising 76.23 lakh are men, 67.14 lakh women and 824 from the third gender, will cast their mandate in the first-phase seats.
There are 7,693 polling stations and 14,842 polling booths in the first phase.
In the Saharanpur seat, sitting BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal is pitted against old warhorse Imran Masood of the Congress while Mazid Ali of the BSP will try to create a hurdle.
Similarly, in Kairana, sitting BJP MP Pradeep Kumar will take on Ikra Hasan of the SP and Sripal Singh of the BSP. In Muzaffarnagar, sitting BJP MP Sanjeev Baliyan will contest against Harendra Mallick of the SP. Here Dara Singh Prajapati is the BSP candidate.
In the Bijnore seat, NDA partner RLD candidate Chandan Chauhan is pitted against Deepak Saini of the SP while Virendra Singh is the BSP candidate.
An interesting contest is expected in the Nagina seat where Om Kumar of the BJP is pitted against Manoj Kumar of the SP. Surendra Pal Singh of the BSP and Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan will also contest the seat.
In the Moradabad seat, sitting SP MP ST Hasan will contest against Sarvesh Singh of the BJP while Mohammad Irfan Saifi is the BSP candidate.
In the Muslim-dominated Rampur seat, sitting BJP member Ghanshyam Lodhi will fight against the BSP’s Zeeshan Khan. The SP is yet to announce its candidate, but it is expected to be done by Tuesday night.
In Pilibhit, after denying ticket to Varun Gandhi, the BJP has fielded UP PWD Minister Jitin Prasada. Bhagwat Saran Gangwar of the SP and Anis Ahmed Khan Phoolbabu of the BSP are the other candidates.