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Akhilesh’s poll fate in focus as UP votes in Phase 3
The third phase of the seven-phase UP elections is the biggest one, with 59 assembly constituencies across 16 districts voting on Sunday. A total of 21,575,430 voters will decide the fate of 627 contestants.
The battle for the Karhal seat in Mainpuri will be the focal point of the third phase of Uttar Pradesh elections on Sunday, when the fate of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is making his assembly poll debut from the constituency, will be sealed.
The third phase of the seven-phase UP elections is the biggest one, with 59 assembly constituencies across 16 districts voting on Sunday. A total of 21,575,430 voters will decide the fate of 627 contestants.
The 16 districts are Kanpur, Etawah, Kannauj, Farrukhabad, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat under Kanpur region, Jhansi, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Lalitpur and Mahoba in Bundelkhand region, and Hathras, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah and Kasganj in the Braj region.
Over 905 companies of central paramilitary forces (CPMF) and state armed police, as well as over 117,000 civil police personnel, home guards, Prantiya Rakshak Dal (PRD) jawans and village guards have been deployed for free and fair elections in the poll-bound areas.
“As many as 13 assembly constituencies are considered sensitive and special deployment has been made there. The sensitive constituencies are Kannauj, Shikohabad, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Bhogaon, Kishni, Karhal, Aliganj, Sadabad, Arya Nagar, Sisamau, Qidwainagar and Kanpur Cantt,” said additional director general (law and order), Prashant Kumar.
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He added that polling will be conducted at 15,555 centres and 170 pink booths have been set up for women voters where at least 38 women inspectors and sub-inspectors have been deployed.
Among the key regions, Mainpuri district holds significance as it has traditionally been an SP stronghold. SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav represents the Mainpuri constituency in Parliament. Karhal has remained a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party since 1993. It was only in 2002 that the seat went to the BJP.
In the 2017 assembly polls, SP candidate Sobran Yadav secured 104,000 votes from Karhal, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s Prem Shakya by 38,405 votes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has now fielded Union minister of state SP Singh Baghel as its candidate from the Karhal assembly seat. A former Uttar Pradesh police sub-inspector, Baghel was once a security officer of former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, who brought him into politics.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief and Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav said on Saturday that the SP chief will win from Karhal and Baghel will find it quite difficult even to secure his poll’s security deposit.
“SPS Baghel will lose election from a huge margin, his deposit will be forfeited from Karhal. The victory of the alliance will be registered with an overwhelming majority across the state,” said Shivpal Singh Yadav.
In Etawah district, the Jaswant Nagar seat is another Yadav stronghold, which the family has won since 1985. Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav has won the seat five times in a row since 1996.
Mulayam Singh Yadav won his first assembly elections in 1967 as a Samyukta Socialist Party candidate. He won it seven times before handing it over to Shivpal Yadav in 1996.
“The eyes of other countries of the world, including the United States, are on the Samajwadi Party in these elections and now the people of India will decide. But one thing is clear that your hopes will be fulfilled by the Samajwadi Party,” Mulayam said on February 17, when he joined Akhilesh and Shivpal on the campaign trail for the first time after more than five years.
Another significant region in the 2022 assembly polls is Bundelkhand, which is witnessing some of the most interesting political battles. Traditionally known as the region where Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) boasts clout, Bundelkhand this time saw multiple rallies by Akhilesh Yadav.
Mayawati, whose BSP won one seat in the 2017 assembly elections, held several rallies in her erstwhile stronghold. During the campaigns, she attacked the rival parties, saying: “BSP is the only party that does not work with the money of capitalists, unlike other political parties which formulate economic policies not to help citizens but to favour industrialists.”
The Congress, which won one seat in this region in 2017, has entered the battle with a renewed vigour in some parts. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has held several rallies in parts of the region, with a focus on women in rural areas.
