E-Paper
Fate of 40 candidates in Braj region to be decided today
Most closely watched contest is at Karhal in Mainpuri district (Braj region), where Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav
Agra The fate of candidates contesting at 40 assembly seats in Braj region would be decided in the counting process on Thursday.
Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is the candidate from Karhal seat and besides him; the fate of five cabinet ministers (BJP candidates) would also be decided today.
The Braj region comprises of eight districts divided in Agra and Aligarh division and in all, there are 40 assembly seats at stake. Districts of Agra, Mathura and Aligarh went to poll in the first phase (21 seats) while remaining five districts of Mainpuri, Etah, Hathras, Firozabad and Kasganj went to polling on February 20 in third phase.
Most closely watched contest is at Karhal in Mainpuri district, where Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav. The BJP has fielded MP from Agra and union minister of state for law and justice, SP Singh Baghel from Karhal and made it an interesting contest to watch.
One of the four assembly seats of Mainpuri district, Karhal is a stronghold of Samajwadi Party and houses a school where Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam studied and taught as a teacher.
Only seat in Mainpuri district, having four assembly constituencies, which was won by BJP in 2017 assembly elections, is Bhongaon and the winner BJP candidate, Ram Naresh Agnihotri, was elevated to status of minister in state cabinet and is again a candidate in assembly election.
Once a prominent Brahmin face of Bahujan Samaj Party, Upadhyaya is contesting as BJP candidate from Sadabad assembly constituency for second time and is sitting MLA from the seat.
Mathura-Vrindavan (Mathura) was much talked about seat earlier because of speculation of Yogi Aditya Nath contesting from Mathura, but it was energy minister Sri Kant Sharma (BJP) contesting from Mathura where he faces tough challenge from four-time Congress MLA Pradeep Mathur.
Atrauli in Aligarh was home to former chief minister late Kalyan Singh who represented the seat 10 times. Atrauli is now represented by his grandson Sandeep Singh who is also a minister of state in Yogi cabinet.
Another minister in Yogi cabinet, Chaudhary Laxmi Narain is contesting from Chhata (Mathura) and his supporters are having fingers crossed for Thursday. Similarly, Agra Cantt (Agra) - a reserved seat and constituency of minister of state in Yogi cabinet, GS Dharmesh, who is again in fray as BJP candidate.
Spotlight is also on Shyam Sudar Sharma, former minister in Mayawati regime, who has won eight times from Mant assembly constituency of Mathura, from where his fate would be decided as BSP candidate. Baby Rani Maurya, former governor of Uttrakhand and former Mayor of Agra, is candidate for BJP from reserved seat of Agra rural.
While all other candidates are expecting their chances but 75-year-old Hasnu Ram Ambedkari, contesting his 94th assembly elections, is confident that he is going to lose from Kheragarh assembly seat of Agra. He claims that he contests elections to lose them and has almost every time lost his deposit but continues to contest.
