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UP polls: On fourth phase eve, Akhilesh Yadav's 'courtesy meet' with BJP MP Rita Joshi's son
Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022: Last month, Rita Bahuguna Joshi offered to resign as Lok Sabha MP in exchange of the party fielding her son as a candidate in the ongoing polls in the state. However, Mayank Joshi did not get a ticket.
On the eve of fourth phase polling in Uttar Pradesh, which is taking place today, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday shared a photo with Mayank Joshi--the son of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi--who was denied a ticket by the ruling party to contest the ongoing assembly elections in the state.
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“A courtesy meeting with Mr Mayank Joshi,” the SP chief said on Twitter. However, there was no announcement on Mayank Joshi joining the Yadav-led party.
Last month, Rita Bahuguna Joshi offered to step down as parliamentarian if the BJP, which has a policy of one ticket per family, was willing to field Mayank. According to reports, the former Congress leader wanted the party to filed her son from Lucknow Cantt, which she herself has represented as an MLA.
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Akhilesh Yadav's sister-in-law, Aparna, who joined the BJP in January, was also tipped to be its candidate from this constituency. However, the party eventually fielded state law minister Brajesh Pathak from Lucknow Cantt.
In the 2017 assembly elections, Rita Bahuguna Joshi defeated Aparna Yadav, then contesting as a Samajwadi Party candidate, to win this seat.
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Lucknow Cantt, as its name suggests, falls in UP's capital city of Lucknow, and is among eight assembly seats in the metropolis. Its incumbent MLA is BJP's Suresh Chandra Tiwari, who won a by-poll in 2019 after Joshi was elected to the Lok Sabha.
Lucknow is among nine districts which is voting today. Overall, in phase 4, electors across as many as 59 constituencies will exercise their right to vote. In the first three phases--held on February 10, 14 and 20--58, 55 and 59 of the state's total 403 constituencies went to polls. Polling will be held in three more rounds, on February 27, March 3 and 7.
The counting of votes for all seven phases will take place on March 10.
