In this round, the Congress is hoping to not only retain these two seats but also take on the BJP directly in at least four other seats – Dhaurahra, Barabanki, Faizabad and Sitapur. In 2014, the SP or BSP were in second position on 10 out of these 14 seats while the combined votes of the SP and BSP exceeded those of the BJP in several seats. In Fathepur, the Congress has given the ticket to Rakesh Sachan, who contested the seat on SP ticket in 2014. This time the seat went to the BSP as its share in the opposition alliance, and the BSP has fielded Sukhdev Prasad. On the remaining 13 seats, the challenge for the BJP would be to repeat the 2014 results by stopping the opposition alliance as well as Congress.

Source: Economic Times April 30, 2019 03:11 UTC