lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Apr 30, 2019 07:30 IST

Kannauj, a high-profile parliamentary constituency once represented by socialist icon Ram Manohar Lohia, saw a voter turnout of 59.29% on Monday. Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav is seeking re-election for the third time. Kannauj was one of the 13 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls on April 29; the state, which has 80 seats has already seen voting for 26 seats in the past three phases of the ongoing general elections. The remaining 41 will go to polls over the next three phases of the seven-phased elections, which end on May 19.

Technical glitches in electronic voting machines affected polling at more than 250 booths. SP Member of Legislative Council Arvind Yadav reportedly sent 40 complaints to the Election Commission about defective EVMs.

The Kannauj seat has been with the Yadav family since 1998 when SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav won it for the first time and vacated it for his son Akhilesh, who has won it thrice since then. Dimple Yadav is the wife of SP president Akhilesh Yadav. Dimple contested it for the first time in 2012, after Akhilesh became chief minister and vacated the seat. In 2014, she defeated BJP’s Subrat Pathak.

This time, Dimple is the candidate of the alliance forged between SP, Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal. Like 2014, the Congress has not fielded a candidate against her and the BJP has repeated Subrat Pathak, who secured 42.11% votes in 2014 elections, but lost to Dimple.

Kannauj has seen high-voltage campaigning in the last two weeks. Addressing a rally here earlier this month, BJP president Amit Shah told the cadre that winning the seat was a priority for the party. Akhilesh ran Dimple’s campaign in the constituency.

Known for ‘ittar’ (perfume), Kannauj is also one of the biggest producers of potato in the belt which stretches up to Agra. Potato farming is done in 50,000 hectares and, on an average, 15 lakh metric tonnes potato is produced in Kannauj alone.