Mohanlal Ganj: This reserved seat is adjacent to Lucknow with the Pasi community holding the key. BJP candidate and Union minister of state Kaushal Kishore is trying his luck for the third term in a row. Challenging him are the SP’s RK Chaudhary and the BSP’s Rajesh Kumar.
Barabanki: Another reserved seat adjoining Lucknow, this has the tendency of changing winners each time. However, the BJP won the seat in 2014 and retained it in 2019. Pasis among the SCs and Kurmi voters among OBCs are decisive in the constituency. There are over 20% Muslim voters here. In 2024, the BJP replaced its sitting MP Upendra Singh Rawat with Rajrani Rawat and the Congress has fielded Tanuj Punia, son of former bureaucrat and Congress leader PL Punia. The BSP has fielded Shiv Kumar Dohre.
Gonda: The BJP’s sitting MP Kirti Vardhan Singh, hailing from the royal family, is in the fray for the third consecutive term. Challenging him is the SP’s Shreya Verma, the granddaughter of party stalwart and prominent Kurmi leader Beni Prasad Verma, while the BSP has pitted a Brahmin Saurabh Mishra.
Fatehpur: The BJP has repeated its sitting MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti who had defeated the BSP’s Sukh Lal Verma, who was the joint SP-BSP candidate, with 54% of the votes in 2019. The SP has fielded its state chief Naresh Uttam, a Kurmi by caste, and the BSP has pinned its hopes on Manish Sachan.
Kaiserganj: The BJP has fielded Karan Bhushan Singh, son of sitting MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh, while the SP has fielded Baghatram Mishra and the BSP has made the contest interesting by fielding another Brahmin Narendra Pandey.
Kaushambi: Adjacent to the Allahabad Lok Sabha constituency, this reserved seat is set for an interesting battle between the BJP’s sitting MP Vinod Sonkar and one of the SP’s youngest candidates, the debutant Pushpendra Saroj who is the son of SP MLA Indrajeet Saroj. The BSP has fielded Shubh Narain Gautam, a retired area development officer.
