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Uttar Pradesh polls: High-stakes poll season ends with phase 7 voting today
In the last phase polls on Monday, voters in Varanasi (PM Modi’s parliamentary constituency) and Azamgarh (SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Lok Sabha constituency), among others, will elect their MLAs
The seventh and final phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held on Monday, ending the month-long polling in the politically important state that could presage voting patterns in the 2024 general elections.
Monday evening will also set off the countdown to March 10 when, along with Uttar Pradesh, the results of polling in Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur will be declared. Polling in the four other states are over.
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In the last phase polls on Monday, voters in Varanasi (Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency) and Azamgarh (Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s Lok Sabha constituency), among other districts, will elect their MLAs.
In Monday’s polls, over 20 million voters will decide the fate of 613 candidates in 54 constituencies.
Spread over nine districts in southeast UP, polling in these constituencies will be held from 7am till 6pm. The districts going to polls include Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.
All preparations for voting have been completed, the state’s chief electoral officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said.
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Reservation and caste census — issues that Yadav and his alliance partners are raising — would play out prominently in this region as it has a significant population of other backward classes; and so would nationalism, double-engine government, religion and dynastic rule highlighted by the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party.
One of the most-watched candidates in this phase is former minister Om Prakash Rajbhar, who is contesting from the Zahoorabad seat. Rajbhar had won the seat in 2017 as candidate of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which was a BJP ally.
After a falling out with the BJP over OBC issues, chief minister Yogi Adityanath expelled him from the cabinet in 2019. In the run-up to the 2022 polls, Rajbhar allied with the SP.
The 54 seats are crucial for BJP, which won 29 of them in 2017, and SP, which bagged 34 in 2012. The 2017 tally of the 54 seats was : BJP 29, SP 11, BSP 06, Apna Dal (S) 04, SBSP 03, and Nishad Party 01.
The 2012 tally was SP 34, BJP 04, BSP 07, Congress 04, Qaumi Ekta Dal 02, Apna Dal (S) 01 and independents 02.
Both BJP and SP have most of their alliances with smaller parties active in this region that is going to polls, as was the case during polling in the sixth phase as well.
BJP’s alliance partners are Apna Das (S) and Nishad Party, while SP’s alliance partners are Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party and Apna Dal (K).
BJP gave four of the 54 tickets to the Nishad Party and three to Apna Dal (S); SP gave six tickets for the 7th phase to SBSP.
Campaigning for the last phase reached a crescendo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP’s charge in Varanasi and its adjoining districts.
This phase of campaigning also saw Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee visiting Varanasi to hold a joint rally with Yadav and his RLD ally Jayant Chaudhary.
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SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav also made a campaign outing to Malhani, a Jaunpur constituency, .
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been camping in Varanasi for about four days. She has , addressed elections rallies along with her brother Rahul Gandhi.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also campaigned in the district and neighbouring areas.
UP ministers in the fray in this phase are Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi south), Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur-Varanasi), Ravindra Jaiswal (Varanasi north), Girish Yadav (Jaunpur)and Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur).
Dara Singh Chauhan, who had resigned from the Adityanath cabinet and joined the SP, is contesting from Ghosi in Mau.
Dhananjay Singh is contesting from Malhani-Jaunpur as a JD(U) candidate and Abbas Ansari, son of Mafioso -turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, is contesting from Mau Sadar seat.
In the previous six phases, a total of 349 of the total 403 UP assembly constituencies have already voted.
