Lok Sabha elections: Understanding NDA, INDIA bloc’s arithmetic in phase 5
INDIA bloc faces intra-alliance conflicts, especially in West Bengal. NDA alliance remains seamless.
Forty-nine parliamentary constituencies (PCs) are going to vote on Monday in the fifth phase of the current election cycle. This is also the smallest phase in terms of the number of PCs going to the polls. These 49 PCs are spread across eight states and Union territories. Among the two major alliance blocs — the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — the INDIA bloc is again set to witness a higher proportion of intra-alliance conflicts. Most of these intra-alliance conflicts are expected to be notional, except in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress (TMC) failed to reach a seat-sharing arrangement with other INDIA parties — the Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPIM), and Communist Party of India (CPI).
Lok Sabha polls: Phase 5 voting to lock fate of 49 seats today
Among the NDA parties, the BJP is contesting the highest number of 40 PCs. Shiv Sena is contesting 6 PCs, all in Maharashtra. Janata Dal (United), Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSPS) are contesting one PC each. None of the NDA parties are contesting Baramulla PC in Jammu and Kashmir. NDA alliance arithmetic seems perfectly seamless in the current phase, with only one intra-alliance contest with RSPS in Mohanlalganj in Uttar Pradesh. The BJP had won Mohanlalganj PC in 2019. The BJP is contesting 81.6% of the total PCs going to the polls in the current phase. This is the second-highest percentage of PCs which BJP is contesting, the highest being in the third phase when it contested 87.1% of the total PCs that went to the polls.
In sharp contrast to the NDA, the INDIA bloc has fielded 64 candidates across the 49 PCs.
Thirteen parties from the INDIA bloc are in the fray in the current phase, each contesting at least one PC. Congress is contesting 18 PCs, the highest among the parties in the INDIA bloc. However, in terms of proportion, Congress is contesting the fewest PCs (36.7% of the total 49 PCs) so far in the election phases. It has contested 54.9%, 79.5%, 73.1%, and 63.5% of the PCs in the first four phases, respectively.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Shiv Sena - Uddhav Bal Thackeray (SHS-UBT) are the second and third biggest constituents, contesting 10 and 8 PCs, respectively. TMC is contesting all 7 PCs in West Bengal that are voting today. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) is contesting all four of its PCs in Bihar.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)-Sharadchandra Pawar faction is in the fray in two PCs in Maharashtra. Among the left parties, CPI(M) and CPI are contesting 5 and 4 PCs each, while another left ally, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) - CPI(ML)(L), is contesting one PC in Jharkhand. All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) is also contesting two PCs, both in Maharashtra. The remaining parties are contesting one PC each.
There are 15 PCs in the current phase where INDIA parties are pitted against each other.
Seven of these PCs are in West Bengal, three in Maharashtra, two each in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, and one PC in Jammu and Kashmir. In West Bengal, TMC has fielded candidates in all 7 PCs, 5 against CPIM and 2 against Congress. In Uttar Pradesh, CPI has fielded its candidates in two PCs against SP. CPI has also fielded two candidates against Congress in Jharkhand.
In Maharashtra, AlFB has fielded two candidates, one each against Congress and SHS-UBT. Bharatiya Adivasi Party (BAP) has also fielded one candidate against SHS-UBT in Maharashtra. In Jammu and Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference and Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party candidates are pitted against each other.
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Out of these 15 PCs, only 14 are comparable due to the delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir post-2019. BJP won 9 of these PCs, while the then united Shiv Sena won one PC. TMC won the remaining 4 such PCs in 2019.