BJP's Smriti Irani trails Congress candidate KL Sharma in Amethi
Union Minister Smriti Irani is currently trailing behind the Congress's Kishori Lal Sharma by 29,400 votes in Uttar Pradesh's Amethi. The vote counting for the Lok Sabha polls began at 8:00am on Tuesday. As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, out of the total 976,053 votes cast through EVMs, approximately 148,000 or 15.2% had been counted by 11:16am.
Amethi's electoral history and current scenario
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Irani secured victory in Amethi, a constituency traditionally associated with the Gandhi family. She defeated the Congress's Rahul Gandhi, who had held the seat for a 15-year period. Irani had defeated the former Congress president by a margin of 55,120 votes. In their first electoral battle in 2014, Gandhi emerged victorious against the BJP leader.
Mega surprise in UP, trends show INDIA leading
This comes as the Congress-led opposition bloc, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), is leading in Uttar Pradesh. As per early trends, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is leading in 37 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, while the INDIA bloc is ahead in 42. Historically, Uttar Pradesh has been a stronghold for the BJP in the last two general elections, making this early lead a notable event.
BJP's performance in 2019
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led NDA secured 62 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), then allies, won five and 10 seats, respectively. This year, however, BSP is running independently with early trends not showing a strong performance. The Samajwadi Party is contesting 62 seats while the Congress is vying for 17 seats.
Performance in other notable seats
Meanwhile, in another Congress stronghold, Raebareli, Gandhi is leading by over 60,000 votes. In Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is leading over Congress's Ajay Rai, while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is leading from the Kannauj Lok Sabha seat. In Lucknow, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, who is seeking a third term, is also leading over the SP's Ravidas Mehrotra and BSP candidate Sarwar Malik.
