Varanasi To Amethi: Key Seats In UP To Watch Out For In Lok Sabha Polls

Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha, the highest among all states. The constituencies include Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Varanasi and Gandhi family bastions Amethi and Raebareli, which the Congress appears struggling to save.

Here's a list of key constituencies in the country's most populous state.

* Kannauj: Samajwadi Party president Akhllesh Yadav is tipped to contest from Kannauj with its significant presence of OBC and Muslim voters. The constituency, once represented by Ram Manohar Lohia, is currently with the BJP. But it has been with the SP for years: Mulayam Singh Yadav won here in 1999, Akhilesh Yadav in 2000, 2004 and 2009, and his wife Dimple Yadav in 2012 and 2014.

* Mainpuri: An SP citadel represented once by Mulayam Singh Yadav, and currently by Dimple Yadav. Union minister S P Singh Baghel lost here by a big margin last time.

* Badaun: SP leader Shivpal Yadav has been named as the party candidate from Badaun, in an apparent attempt to regain the SP supremacy on this seat. In the last general election, BJP leader Sanghmitra Maurya, daughter of Swami Prasad Maurya, won here.

* Raebareli: UP Congress leaders say they want Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to contest this family bastion held earlier by her mother Sonia Gandhi, who has now switched to the Rajya Sabha. There was speculation that SP MLA Manoj Pandey, who quit a key party post recently, could be fielded here by the BJP.

* Amethi: In 2019, Union minister Smriti Irani defeated Rahul Gandhi from what had been his home turf. He won three previous elections in a row from Amethi, which in the past was held by Sonia Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi as well. The BJP has fielded Irani here again this time.

* Gorakhpur: Yogi Adityanath's 'karmabhoomi' which he represented in Parliament five times before he became the Uttar Pradesh chief minister. He is presently an MLA from Gorakhpur Urban segment. Gorakhpur influences the results in other parliamentary constituencies in the region as well.

* Varanasi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency from where he is now contesting for the third time. Before him, it was represented by BJP veteran Murli Manohar Joshi. In 2014, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Ajay Rai, the present state Congress president, fought unsuccessfully against Modi.

* Kaiserganj: Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, BJP leader and former Wrestling Federation of India president who faces charges of sexually harassing women players, has represented the constituency since 2009.

* Faizabad: The parliamentary constituency has gained more prominence with the inauguration of the Ram temple -- Ayodhya is part of the district which was earlier known as Faizabad. Ayodhya is set to be invoked by the BJP in its campaign. The party has picked former UP minister Lallu Singh again from this constituency.

* Rampur: It is being described as Azam Khan's crumbling citadel. The SP leader and his son Abdullah Azam had to give up their Rampur Sadar and Suar assembly segments, which fall within this parliamentary constituency, when they were disqualified from the assembly. The BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) then won them.

* Kheri: The BJP has renominated here Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra 'Teni', a controversial choice after his son was arrested following the death of eight people including four farmers in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in 2021. The episode in UP's sugarcane belt still figures during protests by farmers.

* Pilibhit: A seat represented by Maneka Gandhi or her son Varun Gandhi for over two decades. The younger BJP leader has, however, been taking potshots at his own party in recent years. This has led to the possibility that he might not get the BJP ticket this time.

* Baghpat: Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary was defeated by the BJP in this key seat in western UP in the last parliamentary elections. The party, which recently switched over to the BJP-led NDA, has already announced a candidate for Baghpat this time as part of a seat-sharing arrangement.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)