Lucknow: After a month-long intense campaigning followed by six intense phases of elections, Uttar Pradesh is going to vote in the final phase of polls today though all eyes are on March 10 when the results will be announced. Stakes have reached an all-time high for major political players in the State as 54 assembly constituencies across nine districts, including PM Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency, are set to go for polls today.
The nine districts going to polls in the final phase of UP elections are Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra. Campaigning for the final phase came to an end on March 5. PM Modi led BJP's poll campaigning, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav campaigned with Jayant Chaudhary and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, while Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi canvassed for the Congress.
A total of 613 candidates are in the fray for the 54 seats today which include 11 reserved for Scheduled Castes and two for Scheduled Tribes. An electorate consisting of over 2 crores will be exercising its franchise today. With PM Modi's parliamentary constituency Varanasi going to the polls in the final phase, it will be a test of alliances carved by both the BJP and Samajwadi Party with small caste-based parties.
A maximum of 25 candidates are vying for the Jaunpur seat while a minimum of six candidates each are contesting for two seats - Pindra and Shivpur - in Varanasi district. Once considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, the region saw BJP making inroads in 2017 by winning 29 seats along with its allies Apna Dal (4) and SBSP (3).
For the Samajwadi Party, its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav made another rare appearance in Jaunpur to drum up support for Lucky Yadav, son of his long-time associate late Parasnath Yadav in the fray from Malhani seat. Mulayam Singh had earlier campaigned for his son and party president Akhilesh Yadav on Karhal seat in Mainpuri.
Key Candidates
Prominent contestants in this phase include UP ministers Neelkanth Tiwari, Anil Rajbhar, Ravindra Jaiswal, Girish Yadav and Rama Shankar Singh Patel. Dara Singh Chauhan, who had resigned from the Yogi Adityanath cabinet and joined the Samajwadi Party, is also contesting from Ghosi in Mau. SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar (Zahoorabad), Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur) as JD(U) candidate and Abbas Ansari, son of mafia turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, from Mau Sadar seat are other prominent candidates in the final phase. The BJP is going all out to retain its bastion while the Samajwadi Party is eyeing to regain the constituencies it won in the 2012 Assembly elections.
Also, the seventh and last phase of UP Assembly elections will be a litmus test for allies on both sides - from Anupriya Patel in the BJP-led alliance to Om Prakash Rajbhar in the SP-led alliance.
In this election, the BJP has fielded 48 candidates out of 54 seats on the party symbol while its ally Apna Dal (S) and Nishad Party have fielded 3-3 candidates each. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party has fielded 45 candidates on its symbol while its ally SBSP has fielded 7 candidates and Apna Dal (K) has fielded two candidates.
Locked in a fierce poll battle with the Samajwadi Party, in particular, winning a majority of seats out of the 54 constituencies in the end round is a must for the BJP to continue its sway in the 2024 general election. Riding on the "Modi wave", the BJP-led coalition had won in all the eight assembly segments of Varanasi in 2017 and so was the case in the majority of the seats in the neighbouring districts.
List of Constituencies
- Azamgarh: Atrauliya, Gopalpur, Sagri, Mubarakpur, Azamgarh, Nizamabad, Phoolpur Pawai, Didarganj, Lalganj, and Mehnagar
- Mau: Madhuban, Ghosi, Muhammadabad - Gohna (SC), and Mau
- Jaunpur: Badlapur, Shahganj, Jaunpur, Malhani, Mungra Badshahpur, Machhlishahr, Mariyahu, Zafrabad, and Kerakat
- Ghazipur: Jakhanian, Saidpur, Ghazipur, Jangipur, Zahoorabad, Mohammadabad, and Zamania
- Chandauli: Mughalsarai, Sakaldiha, Saiyadraja, and Chakia
- Varanasi: Pindra, Ajagara, Shivpur, Rohaniya, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt, and Sevapuri
- Bhadohi: Bhadohi, Gyanpur, and Aurai
- Mirzapur: Chhanbey, Mirzapur, Majhawan, Chunar, and Marihan
- Sonbhadra: Ghorawal, Robertsganj, Obra, and Duddhi
