UP, Punjab polls: Campaigning ends, polling on today

Lucknow, Feb 20 (UNI) Election campaign for 59 seats spread over 16 districts in the third phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections ended on Friday. Polling for this phase will be held on Sunday. As per the electoral rolls published by the Election Commission on January 5, 2.15 crore voters will decide the fate of 627 candidates in the fray during this phase. Out of the 2.15 crore voters 1,16,12,010 are males and 99,62,324 are females. This phase includes 19 seats in Firozabad, Hathras, Mainpuri, Etah and Kasganj districts of Braj region, 27 seats of Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Auraiya, Farrukhabad, Kannauj and Etawah districts of Awadh region and 13 seats of Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Mahoba and Hamirpur districts of Bundelkhand region. This also includes the ‘Yadav belt’ of Etah, Etawah and Mainpuri, which is considered to be a bastion of Samajwadi Party (SP) and was breached by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2017 assembly polls. Out of these 59 seats being contested during the third phase, BJP won 49 in the last elections, whereas SP one 9 and Congress 1. Bahujan Samaj Party had failed to open its account in this phase. While opposition parties, which are fighting for their survival, are hopeful of regaining lost ground this time, BJP too is trying hard to hold its fort together. In this phase not only the prestige of several ministers in the Yogi government, but also that of a Union Minister is also at stake. Union Minister SP Singh Baghel is challenging Akhilesh Yadav on Karhal seat, which has been a stronghold of SP, in Mainpuri district. Among ministers in the Yogi government, Excise Minister Ram Naresh Agnihotri is in the fray from Bhogaon seat in Mainpuri district and Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana is contesting from his traditional seat Maharajganj in Kanpur district. In this phase Sadabad, Jaswant Nagar, Farrukhabad and Kannauj are a few other prominent seats where big political leaders would be contesting from. Brother of SP founder and now patron Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting from Jaswant Nagar. Though Shivpal has forged an alliance with Akhilesh, he is contesting on SP symbol. Mulayam’s another relative Hari Om Yadav is contesting from Sirsaganj seat on BJP ticket. Once considered to be a Brahmin face of BSP, Ramvir Upadhyaya is contesting from Sadabad seat on a BJP ticket. Kanpur”s former Commissioner of Police Aseem Arun, who has taken a plunge in the politics after taking VRS, is in the fray from Kannauj (reserve) seat. Congress has fielded Louis Khursheed, wife of former Union Minister Salman Khursheed, from Farrukhabad seat. The party has reposed faith on Ajay Kapoor and fielded him from Kidwai Nagar seat and Karishma Thakur, who is contesting from Govind Nagar seat. Both of them lost the last election by slender margins. Almost all the political parties including ruling BJP, SP, BSP and Congress have campaigned extensively on the seats in this phase. Of 59 seats in this phase Dalit voters on two dozen seats and backwards on similar number of seats are the deciding factor. According to political analysts’ unrest among farmers, specially after farm laws, still pose problems to ruling BJP. “While SP is trying to remain its lost fort, BSP is making efforts to improve its performance specially in Bundelkhand region, which had been its bastion in the past,” they said. Before this when SP formed the government in 2012 it had won 37 out of 59 seats in this region.