All three main parties face challenges in this region owing to the sizable presence of Muslims, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and other backward classes (OBCs) across the eight Lok Sabha seats – Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Nagina (SC), Moradabad, Rampur and Pilibhit – which will go to the polls in the first phase on April 19.