Uttar Pradesh Election, 2022: From Modi to Owaisi, 8 key faces in the contest

In the run up to assembly election in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most politically significant states of the country, major political parties including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress are bracing for a heated contest in 2022.

READ: BJP announces election in-charges for 2022 assembly polls; Dharmendra Pradhan to manage UP, Pralhad Joshi gets Uttarakhand

While the BJP’s chief minister Yogi Adityanath will project his achievements, his rivals will focus on his shortcomings. They are likely to allege that the government in India’s most populous state mishandled the COVID-19 situation, which the BJP is expected to counter with data showing the sharp decline in cases in UP, and the continuing high numbers in Kerala and Maharashtra, where the BJP is in opposition.

MoneyControl takes a look at the key faces of the UP elections:

Narendra Modi, 70. BJP

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s influence on the UP elections, like other state polls, will be profound, more so because he is a member of Parliament from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. Modi’s recent praise for Yogi Adityanath ahead of the polls testifies the importance he attaches to the assembly polls. Being held in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and being the first UP election after laying the foundation of Ram Temple in Ayodhya and abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, the upcoming assembly polls will also be a testing ground for the BJP and PM Modi’s popularity ahead of 2024 general elections.

Also, read: PM Modi to lay stone for university named after Jat king who once defeated Atal Bihari Vajpayee

“When I talk of development works in UP, I cannot figure out what to mention and what should be left out. There is so much that is happening that this list will remain incomplete because I do not have enough time to mention each task that has been completed without corruption or nepotism,” PM Modi said in Varanasi on July 15.

Yogi Adityanath, 49, BJP

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will be seeking re-election for the BJP government in the 2022 assembly polls. Adityanath was named chief minister after the BJP secured a thumping majority by winning 312 of the 403 seats in UP assembly elections 2017.

Also, read: Like PM Modi, UP CM Yogi Adityanath hasn't taken off in over 4 years: Deputy CM Dinesh Dinesh Sharma

Before being appointed as chief minister, Adityanath was the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament from the Gorakhpur constituency, Uttar Pradesh, for five consecutive terms since 1998. Adityanath is also the mahant, or head priest, of the Gorakhnath Math, a temple in Gorakhpur. He has held that position since the death of his spiritual "father", Mahant Avaidyanath, in September 2014.

“We will fight the elections based on our issues. I am sure that our previous track record of 2014, 2017, and 2019 will repeat, "Adityanath said in a recent interview.

Also, read:  Uttar Pradesh writing new story of development: Yogi Adityanath

Akhilesh Yadav, 48. SP

Akhilesh Yadav, the national president of the Samajwadi Party (SP), was the Chief Minister of UP between 2012 and 2017. Son of SP patriarch, former UP Chief Minister, and Union Minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh was the youngest Chief Minister of UP when he assumed office in 2012 at the age of 38. He is a member of Parliament from Azamgarh.

Akhilesh, who has a master's degree in environmental engineering from Australia, is the main Opposition face in the state. In the 2017 polls in UP, the SP-Congress alliance led by him failed miserably. SP won only 47 of the 177 seats it contested while the Congress won seven of the 21 seats it contested. This time, he has invited small regional parties for an alliance ahead of the polls.

Also, read: In-Depth: Political climate heats up in Uttar Pradesh as clock ticks on 2022 Assembly polls 

“We had been saying that we will win the UP assembly polls 2022 by bagging 350 seats, but the way people are angry with the government and BJP, we might win 400 seats,” Yadav said last month as he launched a statewide 'cycle yatra' of the party.

Mayawati, 65, BSP

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samajwadi Party supremo Mayawati has been hitting out at BJP, Congress and SP. The first female Scheduled Caste Chief Minister in India, Mayawati's rise from humble beginnings has been termed a "miracle of democracy" by former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao. She was chief minister of UP briefly in 1995, then in 1997, from 2002 to 2003 and from 2007 to 2012.

Daughter of a post office employee in Gautam Buddha Nagar, Mayawati studied law at Delhi University. She stormed to power in UP in 2007, winning 206 of the 403 seats, a significant jump from 98 in 2002, but her party’s tally declined subsequently, winning only 80 seats in 2012 and 19 in 2017.

Launching her poll campaign earlier this month, Mayawati assured that her government will not spend its efforts on building memorials and erecting statues if it comes to power, but will focus on changing the face of Uttar Pradesh

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, 49, Congress

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra faces an uphill task leading the party’s campaign in the state where it won only seven seats in the last election. She is unlikely to contest but will be the face of the party's campaign. Daughter of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Congress’ interim chief Sonia Gandhi, she did her schooling and graduation in psychology in Delhi. She had a master's degree in Buddhist studies in 2010. She entered active politics in 2019 and took charge first of eastern UP and then the whole state. The 2022 polls would be a litmus test for her organizational skills and poll management.

Jayant Chaudhary, 42, RLD

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Jayant Chaudhary is another new generation politician who will be leading his party into the electoral arena in UP. It will be his first independent election without the guidance of his father, Ajit Singh, who succumbed to COVID-19 in May. A graduate from the London School of Economics, Jayant was Lok Sabha member from Mathura between 2009 and 2014. Grandson of farmer leader and former Prime Minister Charan Singh, Jayant will face the challenge of regaining western Uttar Pradesh’s crucial Jat vote bank which has shifted to the BJP since 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Asaduddin Owaisi, 52, AIMIM

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has announced that his All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) will contest 100 seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls in alliance with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party under the banner of Bhagidari Sankalp Morcha. AIMIM won five of the 20 seats it contested in Bihar assembly elections in 2020. The party, however, failed to win any seats from seven seats it contested in West Bengal elections and three seats it contested in Tamil Nadu elections in 2021. Owaisi launched his party's UP campaign with a three-day visit starting from Ayodhya last week. 

Chandra Shekhar Azad, 34. Azad Samaj Party

Chandra Shekhar Azad heads the Bhim Army that will be contesting the UP elections under the name of Azad Samaj Party. He is another young politician to debut in the UP polls. The Dalit activist has already started the campaign with his cycle rallies across the state. His aides say that he may contest the elections this time but will ensure that his party gets ample Dalit support, a move that could impact the BSP’s prospectus. Azad’s party’s main focus is western Uttar Pradesh, where he has been advocating for the rights of Dalits.