Campaigning ends for 6 seats of Braj region
These six Lok Sabha seats are now gearing up for polling on May 7 in the third phase. Union minister of state for health and family welfare SP Singh Baghel is a candidate from the reserved seat of Agra. UP minister of tourism and culture Jaiveer Singh is locked in a fight with Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri, the stronghold of Yadav clan. Anup Valmiki, another minister of state in UP is contesting the reserved seat of Hathras.
Agra Campaigning for six Lok Sabha seats of Braj region came to a close on Sunday with political parties trading maximum barbs and allegations on the issue of reservation .

Other issues raised were Ram Temple, Agniveer scheme, waiver of loans, inflation, pariwarwad (dynastic rule), free ration, unemployment, rise of India in global economic rating, terrorism and safer borders .
These six Lok Sabha seats are now gearing up for polling on May 7 in the third phase. Union minister of state for health and family welfare SP Singh Baghel is a candidate from the reserved seat of Agra.
UP minister of tourism and culture Jaiveer Singh is locked in a fight with Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri, the stronghold of Yadav clan. Anup Valmiki, another minister of state in UP is contesting the reserved seat of Hathras.
Others whose prestige is at stake are Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, whose wife is contesting from Mainpuri – a seat never lost by SP since 1996 and home to SP patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav.
National president of BJP Kisan Morcha Raj Kumar Chahar is contesting against ex-army man Fauji Baba aka Ram Nath Sikarwar, the Congress candidate and also against party rebel Rameshwar Chaudhary, recently expelled from the BJP, in Fatehpur Sikri besides the BSP candidate .
Rajveer Singh aka Raju Bhaiya running for a third term from Etah, the seat associated with his father and poster boy of Ram Janmabhoomi late Kalyan Singh. Sandeep Singh, son of Rajveer Singh is minister in UP cabinet and MLA from paternal seat of Atrauli in Aligarh.
Senior national general secretary of Samajwadi Party, Prof Ram Gopal Yadav is not a candidate in Braj but has much at stake because of his son Akshay Yadav fighting hard to regain Firozabad which the party held in 2014 facing Modi wave but lost in 2019 because of ‘chacha-bhatija’ conflict. Chacha Shivpal Yadav, now back in the family, said in a meeting at Firozabad that his bhatija Akshay Yadav lost in 2019 because of his (Shivpal Yadav) contesting for his own party PSP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a rally in Agra and at Etawah (fourth phase) seeking votes for candidates in Agra, Fatehpur Sikri and Mainpuri. Modi had addressed a rally in Aligarh which went for polls in the second phase but sought votes for candidates in Etah and Hathras.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh addressed a rally at Mainpuri and Kasganj while Union defence minister Rajnath Singh sought votes for party candidate in Fatehpur Sikri. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi was star campaigner for Congress in Braj and held an impressive road show at Fatehpur Sikri for Fauji Baba, a candidate most interestingly watched here in Braj. Former deputy CM Sachin Pilot too reached Fatehpur Sikri where Congress is smelling success.
BSP chief Mayawati addressed two rallies, one in Agra and another in and Mainpuri Akash Anand was early bird who addressed a public meeting in Agra.
UP CM Yogi Adityanath and former CM Akhilesh Yadav were most frequent star campaigners who left no constituency unaddressed. RLD president Jayant Chaudhary visited constituencies having Jats in sizeable number at Hathras and Fatehpur Sikri. Deputy CM Brajesh Pathak and Keshav Prasad Maurya shared the load for the chief minister.
Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mohan Yadav was expected multiple times in this Yadav heartland but came only once when BJP candidate filed nomination in Mainpuri .
CM Yogi held road show in Mainpuri followed by another one led by Akhilesh Yadav in the same district on Saturday. On the last day, most of the candidates opted for road shows.
ABOUT THE AUTHORHemendra ChaturvediHemendra Chaturvedi is based in Agra serving as an Assistant Editor, covering districts of Agra and Aligarh division of western Uttar Pradesh. He has been with HT since 1992 and has completed three decades of association with HT.Read More

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