Lok Sabha polls: Rajnath Singh to file nomination from Lucknow today

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will file his nomination papers on Monday from Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.

Before the filing of nomination papers, Rajnath Singh will also hold a two-kilometer roadshow in the city. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will also be present during the nomination.

According to sources, Singh will go to the BJP office in Lucknow where he may participate in the roadshow for the nomination. On the way, he will also visit a temple.

Lucknow will go to polls alongside 13 other constituencies on May 20 in the fifth phase of elections.

Rajnath Singh in 2019 had defeated Samajwadi Party Poonam Shatrughan Sinha with over 6.3 lakh votes. He had defeated Congress candidate Rita Bahuguna Joshi by a margin of 2,72,749 votes in 2014.

The first phase of voting for the seven-phased Lok Sabha election was held on April 19 in 102 constituencies across 21 states and UTs with over 62 per cent voter turnout. The second phase election was concluded on April 26.

In the first phase, polling was held in Arunachal Pradesh (2 seats), Assam (5), Bihar (4), Chhattisgarh (1), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (5), Manipur (2), Meghalaya (2), Mizoram (1), Nagaland (1), Rajasthan (12), Sikkim (1), Tamil Nadu (39), Tripura (1), Uttar Pradesh (8), Uttarakhand (5), West Bengal (3), Andaman and Nicobar (1), Jammu and Kashmir (1), Lakshadweep (1) and Puducherry (1).

The second phase election was concluded on April 26. This phase saw polling on 88 Lok Sabha constituencies, including all 20 seats in Kerala, 14 in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, six in Madhya Pradesh, three each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one each in Tripura, Manipur and Jammu and Kashmir.