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t the forefront of the opposition is Ra-
hul Gandhi who is leading the exuber-
ant Congress party, Akhilesh Yadav and
Mayawati who have formed an alliance
A of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj
Party with Rashtriya Lok Dal. West Bengal has Mamta
Banerjee, while in other states, regional parties are
waiting to play a significant role in national politics.
Voting for 91 constituencies in the first phase of
2019 Lok Sabha elections has already taken place in
crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal
and Andhra Pradesh that are crucial among 20 states
and union territories that went to polls on April 11. The
BJP facing a tough contest in all the seats due to the
alliance of Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and
Rashtriya Lok Dal. The Congress is likely to cut into
votes of both the BJP and the combined alliance.
In Bengal, 18 candidates are contesting from two
constituencies and the main parties are the BJP, Con-
gress, TMC, and Left. Andhra Pradesh, still smarting
over the bifurcation of Telangana, was all set for what
appeared to be a tight contest for its 175 assembly seats
and 25 Lok Sabha seats in the first phase. In Bihar, four
Lok Sabha seats had polling. The second phase would
be on April 18.
During the first phase, a man died in violence while
glitches in Electronic Voting Machines were reported
from several states. Sporadic violence was reported
from Andhra Pradesh, where a worker of the Telugu Studies suggest that the
Desam Party died after a clash in Anantapur. The Chief Opposition has a greater
Election Officer of Andhra Pradesh admitted that 362 chance to win where the
Electronic Voting Machines were malfunctioning. turnout will be higher
The Phase 1 saw polling in Andhra Pradesh,
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Manipur, Megha-
laya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, nerjee’s All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) that are
Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, fighting against the ruling party, while there’s Conrad
Andaman and Lakshadweep. It witnessed polling in Sangma’s National People’s Party in Meghalaya and
25 parliamentary constituencies in Andhra Pradesh, Atul Bora’s Asom Gana Parishad in Assam that has
2 in Arunachal Pradesh, 5 in Assam, 4 in Bihar, 1 in joined forces with BJP for the Lok Sabha polls. In Ma-
Chhattisgarh, 2 in Jammu and Kashmir, 7 in Maha- harashtra, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is in coali-
rashtra, 1 in Manipur, 2 in Meghalaya, 1 in Mizoram, 1 tion with BJP, while Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Con-
in Nagaland, 4 in Odisha, 1 in Sikkim, 17 in Telangana, gress Party (NCP) will fight the ruling party. Another
1 in Tripura, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 5 in Uttarakhand, 2 in formidable contender in the upcoming elections is N
West Bengal, 1 in Andaman and 1 in Lakshadweep. Chandrababu Naidu and his party the Telugu Desam
Besides national parties like Bharatiya Janata Party Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh. In Telangana, K Chan-
and Congress, regional parties are also a force to reck- dradshekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Smithi (TRS)
on with. To begin with, Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi and Mehbooba Mufti’s People’s Democratic Party
Party and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar (PDP) are also forced to reckon with.
Pradesh that has formed an alliance will prove to be a The election fever has reached its crescendo with
forceful third front in the state. Then there is Naveen Bharatiya Janta party, the Congress and regional par-
Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and Sikkim ties raising the poll pitch. Some alliances have been
Democratic Front (SDF) in Sikkim that has strength- formed and some are on the way but electioneering
ened their grasp with multiple successive terms in the has already begun on a high note. It is at this time
respective states. that in his blog post published on March 21, the fi-
On the eastern front is the formidable Mamata Ba- nance minister, Arun Jaitley wrote, “I have repeatedly

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