Uttar Pradesh assembly election 2022: 5 key candidates in first phase of voting

58 assembly seats in 11 districts of Uttar Pradesh will vote on February 10 in the first round of the mammoth seven-phase election in the state. The BJP stormed to power in the state in the 2017 polls by winning 303 of the 403 seats. The party, led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, is hoping for a second term even as the Samajwadi Party-led alliance of regional parties and the Congress are going all guns blazing on the campaign front.

Here are five key candidates in the first phase of 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election:

Pankaj Singh (BJP) – Noida Pankaj Singh is the incumbent MLA in the Noida assembly seat and is aiming for a second straight term. The eldest son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Pankaj Singh is pitted against Kriparam Sharma of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). In the 2017 polls, Singh had defeated his nearest rival, a Samajvadi Party candidate, by a huge margin.

Mriganka Singh (BJP)- Kairana Mriganka Singh is the eldest daughter of BJP leader and three-time BJP MLA Hukum Singh. In 2018, she lost the keenly-watched Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll, which was necessitated by the death of her father, to joint opposition candidate Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Tabassum Hasan. She was passed over for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Ahmad Hameed (SP-RLD) – Baghpat
Ahmad Hameed is the Samajwadi Party- Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate from the Baghpat assembly seat. He is taking on incumbent BJP MLA Yogesh Dhama. Recenlty, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary flagged a fake tweet in his name which purportedly attacks Hameed and questions the his party’s decision to field him from Baghpat. Chaudhary later clarified that the tweet is fake.

Baby Rani Maurya (BJP) - Agra (Rural)
Baby Rani Maurya, 65, is the former governor of Uttarkhand. She is the BJP candidate from the Agra Rural assembly seat. The BJP is fielding her after dropping the sitting MLA Hemlata Diwakar.