Voting begins in Kairana, three other Lok Sabha seats

Polling has begun for four Lok Sabha and ten assembly by-elections across the country on Monday, the results of which could control the tone and tenor for the 2019 general elections for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition. All eyes will be on Kairana Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where a joint opposition will take on the BJP. The opposition hopes to repeat the success of the Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections in March in which the ruling BJP suffered unexpected defeats. Kairana, around 630km from Lucknow, has five assembly segments and an electorate of nearly 1.7 million with a significant number of Muslims, Jats and Dalit voters.