CURATED BY – GAURAV SINGHAL | CITYCHIEFNEWS

Saharanpur. Voting in the first phase on all five seats including Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor and Nagina has increased the confusion for all the political parties. There are 17 lakh, 19 thousand, 11 voters in Kairana Lok Sabha seat. This time 61.17 percent voting took place. Last time there was 67.44 percent voting. Total candidates are 14. The main contest was between sitting BJP MP Pradeep Chaudhary and alliance's SP candidate Iqra Hasan.
On Kairana seat, two major parties campaigned vigorously but still the situation got complicated due to the vote percentage falling to 6.27 percent. Both sides are confident of their respective victory. BSP's Thakur Shripal Rana was more active in Rajput dominated areas. Although the Rajput community had supported Iqra Hasan, the BSP candidates were also seen taking part in their community. At some places, BJP also claimed to have the support of Rajputs.
The 9 percent decline in votes in the VIP seat of Muzaffarnagar due to Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan is considered to be reducing the enthusiasm of the BJP and increasing the concern. In this seat with 18 lakh 41 thousand 497 voters, 68.20 percent votes were cast in the 2019 elections and Sanjeev Balyan defeated RLD supremo Ajit Singh. This time RLD's support was with BJP and Jayant Choudhary held several meetings in favor of Baliyan. Still, only 59.29 percent voting was possible. The alliance's SP candidate, former MP Harendra Malik, gave equal competition to Sanjeev Baliyan in the Jat villages. Due to both the major candidates being Jats, booth capturing could not take place on a large scale anywhere in the Jat dominated areas. Dalits as well as people from extremely backward classes voted heavily in favor of BSP's Prajapati Kumhar fraternity candidate Dara Singh. Since there was no Muslim candidate in the fray, the Muslim votes showed a one-sided trend in favor of SP. This time Khap Panchayats and farmer unions remained neutral in the elections. Voting percentage in Bijnor Lok Sabha seat also dropped by 6 percent. This time 58.21 percent votes were cast. In the last election, 66.15 percent votes were cast. There are 17 lakh 38 thousand 307 voters in this seat and 11 candidates are in the fray. Bijnor is the only seat in the first phase from where RLD candidates have contested. Chandan Chauhan, MLA from Meerpur and National President of RLD's Youth Front, faced Deepak Saini of SP and Chaudhary Virendra Singh of BSP. Chandan Chauhan performed brilliantly as RLD got support from BJP, while Muslim and Dalit votes were divided between SP candidate Deepak Saini and BSP candidate Chaudhary Virendra Singh. Sitting MP Maluk Nagar remained out of the fray due to not getting the ticket. Although he had joined Lok Dal but was not seen in Bijnor area during the entire elections. UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini and RLD President Jayant Chaudhary had held meetings in favor of Chandan Chauhan. In Chandan Chauhan's election, his wife Yashika Chauhan played the role of star campaigner. This was the first Lok Sabha election for the three main candidates Chandan Chauhan, Deepak Saini and Chaudhary Virendra Singh. Chandan Chauhan fought the elections like an experienced leader.
Nagina reserved seat received 4 percent less votes. This time, 59.54 percent votes were cast whereas in 2019, 63.64 percent votes were cast. There are 16 lakh 44 thousand 909 voters on this seat and the total candidates in the fray are six. Three-time BJP MLA Om Kumar, retired ADJ Manoj Kumar and BSP's Surendra Kumar and Azad Samaj Party's Chandrashekhar Azad were the prominent candidates. Chandrashekhar Azad remained the center of attraction here due to being a VIP. He greatly wooed both the Dalit and Muslim classes.