7 rallies in 2 days: What PM Modi's blitz says about BJP's Lok Sabha campaign in Uttar Pradesh?

With the voting over in Southern states, the focus of Lok Sabha election 2024 campaign has shifted to the Hindi heartland. 

Top (BJP) leaders, including Prime Minister, will hold mega rallies in the next two days in Uttar Pradesh, the state where increasing the party's majority from 62 seats (2019) is key to its third-term prospects. 

As many as 41 seats of Uttar Pradesh will be voting in the remaining three phases of . Of these 14 seats each vote in the fifth and sixth phase on May 20 and 25. Thirteen remaining seats will vote in the last phase on June 1. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 members to Lok Sabha.

Prime Minister is expected to address seven rallies in UP on May 16 and 17. He was in Varanasi on May 13 and 14 to fill his nomination for the seat he won twice in 2014 and 2019.

Today, May 16, the PM will address rallies in Pratapgarh,  Lalganj (Azamgarh), Jaunpur’s Machhlishahr and Bhadohi. Polling in these Purvanchal-based constituencies will be held in the sixth phase on May 25. This will be PM Modi’s highest number of public meetings in UP in a single day.

In Purvanchal region, the BJP is up against the Samajwadi Party- Congress combine of INDIA bloc. Barring Machhlishahr, the BJP lost the three other seats – Azamgarh, Lalganj and Jaunpur – to the SP-BSP combine in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Pratapgarh is next to , the only Lok Sabha seat the Congress had won in Uttar Pradesh in 2019. Rahul Gandhi is up against BJP’s in Raebareli seat, going to polls in fifth phase on May 20 along with Amethi, Lucknow and Kaiserganj.

The Prime Minister is scheduled to stay in Governor house Lucknow on Thursday night and will resume campaign by addressing three more rallies in Barabanki, Fatehpur and Hamirpur constituencies on Friday,