The Uttar Pradesh assembly polls have entered the final leg as the high-decibel campaigning shifts to Varanasi and eight adjoining districts in the state’s east where polling for 54 seats is scheduled on March 7.
The districts going to the Assembly Elections are Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra. While Azamgarh, Mau and Jaunpur are perceived as Samajwadi Party strongholds, the Bharatiya Janata Party enjoys considerable sway in the other districts.
The ruling BJP, which is locked in a fierce battle with the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP, would want to win most of these seats ahead of the 2024 general elections.
READ | UP Elections 2022 | PM Modi, other leaders throng Varanasi to campaign ahead of last round of polls
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who represents Varanasi in the Lok Sabha, and other party leaders have been thronging the region during the poll campaign. Prominent leaders of opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi of the Congress and Akhilesh Yadav of SP, are in Varanasi for campaigning on March 4.
This phase will test the allies of the two rival parties – Apna Dal (Sonelal), the BJP ally led by Union minister Anupriya Patel, and OBC leader Om Prakash Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a former BJP ally now contesting with the SP.
Here are seven high-stake contests to watch for in the last phase of the UP polls:
Zahoorabad
Om Prakash Rajbhar of the SBSP is contesting from Zahoorabad in Ghazipur district. Rajbhar won this seat in 2017, defeating the Bahujan Samaj Party’s Kalicharan Rajbhar by over 18,000 votes. This time, Kalicharan is the BJP candidate. The BSP has fielded Shadab Fatima, a former minister in the SP government.
Mau
Former international shooter Abbas Ansari is contesting as the SBSP candidate from Mau in Mau district. His father, gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, has represented the seat since 1996. The senior Ansari, currently in jail, won from here in 2017 as a BSP candidate.
The BJP has fielded Ashok Kumar Singh, whose brother was allegedly killed by Mukhtar Ansari’s men in 2009. However, Ansari has been acquitted in the case. The other contestant is BSP state president Bhim Rajbhar.
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The contest in Mau is between the BJP’s pitch of improving law and order and the clout enjoyed by the Ansari family. Abbas unsuccessfully contested from Ghosi in Mau district in 2017.
Mubarakpur
One of the few seats where the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) is considered to be a player is Mubarkpur in Azamgarh district. The party has fielded Shah Alam, alias Guddu Jamali, who won the BSP stronghold for two straight terms. The SP’s candidate is Akhilesh Yadav, the party chief’s namesake, who came second in 2017. The BSP candidate is Abdus Salam. Arvind Jaiswal of the BJP is trying his luck in the Muslim-majority seat.
Varanasi South
The Varanasi South seat in Varanasi district is among the three seats in the region where the BJP has been giving special focus, considering reports of anti-incumbency against the legislators. Still, the party has fielded Neelkanth Tiwari, the state’s tourism, culture and religious affairs minister, from the seat he won in 2017. Tiwari defeated former Congress MP Rajesh Mishra by 17,000 votes.
Prime Minister Modi’s roadshow scheduled on March 4 will include Varanasi South to drum up support for the BJP candidate. The SP has pitched priest Mahant Pujari Kishan Dixit, while the Congress fielded Mudita Kapoor.
Rohaniya
Rohaniya in Varanasi is a stronghold of BJP ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) led by Anupriya Patel. The BJP’s Surendra Narayan Singh won the seat in 2017. This time, Apna Dal fielded its state vice-president Sunil Patel from this seat.
The seat has a large number of Patel voters who are considered Apna Dal supporters with Anupriya Patel, an MP from Mirzapur, the most prominent leader of the community in the region. She won from Rohaniya in 2012.
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The BSP has fielded Arun Singh Patel, while Apna Dal (K), an SP ally, has fielded Abhay Patel.
Nizamabad
The Nizamabad seat in Azamgarh district is an SP stronghold with 86-year-old Alambadi Azmi having won the seat four times since 1996. Azmi, who defeated the BSP’s Chandra Dev Ram in 2017, faces Manoj Yadav of the BJP, Piyush Singh of the BSP and Shariyar Sadiq of the Aam Aadmi Party this time.
Civil rights activist Rajiv Yadav has jumped into the fray as an independent candidate. Yadav, who is from Azamgarh, is one of the founders of Rihai Manch, a non-profit organisation that works for the release of Muslims who are allegedly wrongly caught in terror charges. Activist Medha Patkar and Magsaysay awardee Sandeep Pandey have campaigned in support of Rajiv Yadav in the seat with a sizeable Muslim and Yadav population.
Azamgarh has been targeted by the BJP in the run-up to the polls, with many BJP leaders referring to it as a “fortress of terror” under the SP government.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from Karhal seat in Mainpuri, had won Lok Sabha election from Azamgarh in 2019 while his father Mulayam Singh Yadav had won it in 2014.
Pindra
BJP leader Avdhesh Singh defeated Babulal from BSP in 2017. This time, joining them in the contest is Rajesh Patel of the Apna Dal (K). The Congress has fielded five-time MLA Ajay Rai, who contested in 2017 too. Rai lost to Modi from Varanasi in the 2014 and 2019 general elections.
Pindra is considered important to the Apna Dal, which now has two factions. Apna Dal founder Sonelal Patel had unsuccessfully contested from the seat, then known as Kolasala.
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