PM Narendra Modi will round up his whirlwind campaign throughout the Lok Sabha elections with rallies in West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha, which, together with five other States and Union Territories, will go to the polls in the final phase on June 1. There are 57 parliamentary constituencies in the last round of polling.

So far, Modi has done about 150 rallies and road shows in the six phases, including a few rounds of his parliamentary seat, Varanasi, which will also vote on June 1.

As per the schedule, Modi is supposed to address two public meetings on Tuesday in West Bengal, where the party is locked in a fierce battle against the ruling Trinamool Congress.

The PM will wind up the day with a road show in Kolkota to push the prospects of Tapas Roy in North Kolkata, the seat that the BJP is eyeing to gain entry into the heart of the West Bengal capital.

Before that, Modi will be in Jharkhand’s Godda to campaign for sitting party MP Nishikant Dubey, who is pitted against Dipika Pandey Singh of Congress. Singh is the incumbent MLA of Mahagama, one of the Vidhan Sabha seats under the Godda Lok Sabha constituency, which the BJP has won eight out of nine times in the past.

In the high-stakes battle being fought over Modi’s image and his government’s performance, the PM continues to lead from the front. In many places, he has done more than one public meeting.

On May 29, he will again reach out to the public of West Bengal through a rally in the Diamond Harbour parliamentary seat, South 24 Parganas, to take on sitting MP Abhishek Banerjee, TMC general secretary, and the nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. BJP’s Abhijit Das is in the fray from this seat, which the party lost to Banerjee by a margin of over three lakh votes.

Odisha Focus

After Bengal, Modi is scheduled to target Odisha, a State the PM himself recently said will yield rich dividends this time both in the Assembly and LS elections. The PM will address public meetings in Balasore, Mayurbhanj, and Kendrapada in a concerted bid to take on the ruling Biju Janata Dal.

Before the campaigning ends, 48 hours before the polling on June 1, Modi and the entire BJP top brass and other leaders will converge at Varanasi.

Relentless Campaigning

Modi began his electoral campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Meerut in Western UP, as he did in 2014 and 2019, and since then, he has travelled across the length and breath of the country to spend at least 18 hours per day to retain power the third time in a row. Additionally, he gave at least 40 interviews to national and vernacular media to maximise public outreach.

The other star campaigners from the BJP who have had an all-India presence during the campaigning are Modi’s close confidant and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and BJP president JP Nadda.

Before the last and final round of polling, Shah will be addressing rallies in Balia, Deoria, Robertsganj, and Maharganj in the eastern part of Uttar Pradesh.

Similarly, Rajnath Singh will hold eight more rallies and road shows in the remaining days of campaigning. So far, said BJP leaders, Singh spent 39 days travelling to 21 States and Union Territories to hold 93 public meetings and road shows in 87 constituencies, including seven visits to his Lucknow seat, from where he is contesting for the third time.

Yogi Adityanath, who was much in demand by the candidates and State units, has done about 120 rallies and road shows.

In the last phase of the election, thirteen seats each in UP and Punjab, nine seats in West Bengal, eight seats in Bihar, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Himachal Pradesh, three seats in Jharkhand, and one seat in the Union Territory of Chandigarh will go to the polls.