Assembly Election 2022 | Punjab goes to polls with 59 seats of Uttar Pradesh

A man's inked marked finger is seen as he leaves a polling station on his bike after casting his vote. (Representative image: Reuters)

Voting began in all 117 seats in Punjab and 59 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh on February 20. As many as 1,304 candidates are in the fray in the single-phase elections in Punjab, while fates will be sealed for 627 contestants in the third phase of Uttar Pradesh polls.

In Punjab, the voting began at 8 am while in UP it began at 7 am.

With over 2.14 crore voters, the border state of Punjab sees a multi-cornered contest this time with the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party alliance, and the coalition of Bharatiya Janata Party-former chief minister Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress party as key players.

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The Congress had won the 2017 Assembly polls with 77 seats. The AAP emerged the principle opposition with 20 seats.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who is the Congress's chief ministerial candidate, is contesting from two seats, Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, while Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu is facing SAD's Bikram Singh Majithia, AAP's Jeevanjyot Kaur and BJP's Jagmohan Singh Raju in Amritsar (East).

AAP Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur and party's CM face Bhagwant Mann is contesting from Dhuri. Punjab Lok Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh is seeking re-election from the Patiala constituency. Five-time chief minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal is in the fray from the Lambi seat, while SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal is in the electoral contest from Jalalabad. The BJP has pitted its Punjab unit chief Ashwani Kumar Sharma from the Pathankot constituency.

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In Uttar Pradesh, an electorate of 2.15 crore will vote in the third phase of polling to 59 Assembly seats across 16 districts.

Karhal in Mainpuri has attracted most attention in this phase. SP chief and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is contesting his maiden Assembly election from Karhal.

The third phase covers five districts from western Uttar Pradesh, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Kasganj, Hathras, six districts of Avadh region, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Auraiya, Kannauj, Etawah, Farrukhabad and five districts from Bundelkhand region, Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba.
Among these, eight districts – Mainpuri, Etawah, Firozabad, Kasganj, Etah, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, and Auraiya – were strongholds of the family of Mulayam Singh Yadav, at least until 2017 elections when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a clinching victory by bagging 312 of the 403 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP could get just 47 of 403 seats.

Also, read | UP Election 2022 enters 'Yadav belt' in 3rd phase of polling on Sunday

Of the 59 seats going to polls today, the SP had won 37 in the 2012 Assembly polls. In 2017, the BJP had bagged 49, while the SP had to settle with only nine. The Congress got one, while the Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank from here. Of the 29 seats in the eight districts of ‘Yadav belt’, the BJP won 23 while the SP could win only six seats in 2017. In 2012, the SP had won 25 seats from here while the BJP had just one.

This time, however, Akhilesh Yadav has entered the fray to act as a force multiplier in the third phase. His uncle Shivpal Yadav, is also contesting from Jaswantnagar in Etawah today.

With his native village Saifai just 4 kilometres away, Karhal in Mainpuri is the home turf for Akhilesh. In 2017, Karhal was among very few seats retained by the SP. Sobaran Singh Yadav had retained the seat since 2007.

Also, read | UP Election 2022 | Parties go full-throttle in battle for Bundelkhand

The BJP has fielded Union minister of state for law and order and its Agra MP SP Singh Baghel against the former chief minister making the battle interesting. Baghel is a former SP loyal, who rose from being Mulayam Singh Yadav’s security guard to one of his trusted aides.

The BJP had also won all 13 seats of Bundelkhand spread across Jalaun, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba districts going to vote in the third phase.

With ANI inputs