The fifth phase of the ongoing 2019 Lok Sabha elections are being held today. Fifty one constituencies will go to vote across seven states. Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal are voting today.

VN Bhatt, senior journalist, the Pioneer and Shesh Narain Singh, resident political analyst, News 18 discuss the scenario on the ground in an interview with CNBC-TV18 .

Singh said: “Rae Bareli and Lucknow were almost a cakewalk for Sonia Gandhi and Rajnath Singh but in Amethi it looked like a very tough fight; Smriti Irani was challenging Rahul Gandhi in almost every village because the 'mahagatbandhan' candidates were not there and voters were undecided, so they could have gone either way.

"First part of Amethi it was indecision and nobody knew what is happening but the next part of Amethi when I travelled to Sultanpur and when Mayawati's message came that the alliance voters would be supporting the Congress in Amethi and Rae Bareli – it was a different story altogether and numbers were stacked in favour of Rahul Gandhi.

"Therefore after the 'gathbandhan' support, it will be in favour of Rahul Gandhi and as far as overall scenario is concerned there is no perceptible wave in favour of Narendra Modi, the caste is playing its own game but Balakot and Pulwama have affected the younger and older generation. They are the same people who voted for them in 2014 but are upset with the stray cattle menace etc."

Bhatt said that UP is heartland of Indian politics and this time it would be a contest on each and every seat in UP unlike in 2014. After Balakot and Pulwama, six schemes implemented by the government like free LPG, power connection, toilet, housing, PM Kisan Yojna and Ayushman Bharat Yojana have created large number of beneficiaries across the state, in every district, in every constituency. The benefit has reached every community irrespective of caste, community and religion.

“So there is an undercurrent as per studies done by many organizations but it would be too risky to quantify how it will play out at grass root levels and its impact on results,” said Bhatt.

“BJP government in UP in the last two years has failed to send any signal to these targeted groups of economically backward class (EBCs) and non-Jatav Dalits,” he added.