Tag: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Polls

  • Curtain comes down on over-two month long election campaign in Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The high-octane campaign for the seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly election covering 54 assembly seats, including in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency Varanasi, ended on Saturday, with the BJP and its rival parties attacking each other on a range of issues from COVID-19 handling, law and order, economic and security situation to farmers’ stir.

    With this, the curtain came down on rumbustious electioneering over the last two months when assembly polls were also held in four other states – Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.

    The campaigning in the last phase reached its crescendo with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the BJP’s poll blitzkrieg in Varanasi and its adjoining districts.

    Besides addressing election rallies, he also held a roadshow for three assembly constituencies of Cantt, Varanasi North and Varanasi South.

    This phase also saw Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee descending on the pilgrim city to hold a joint rally with SP president Akhilesh Yadav and his RLD ally Jayant Chaudhary.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had been camping in Varanasi for about four days and she along with her brother Rahul Gandhi addressed election meetings, whereas BSP supremo Mayawati also campaigned in the district and neighbouring areas.

    Seeking to override anti-incumbency, the ruling party raised issues like forced migration and law and order problems during the previous Samajwadi Party government.

    The BJP leaders dubbed its rivals as ”dynasts” and its star campaigners warned that the mafia elements, put in jail by the Yogi Adityanath government, will be out if the SP forms its government.

    Besides highlighting the achievements of the ‘double engine’ governments, BJP has also been reminding the free ration distribution among the poor with Prime Minister Narendra Modi spicing up the campaign by mixing a salt allegory in his speech, to deftly play up salt’s co-relation with loyalty.

    Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has been targeting the BJP government on inflation, unemployment, stray cattle menace and farmers’ agitation against the three agri laws, his speeches peppered with potshots at Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

    The mowing down of four farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri has also been highlighted by all the opposition parties as Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish Mishra is an accused in the case.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra wooed voters with the ‘ladki hoon,lad sakti hoon’ campaign, on issues related to women and their security and questioned the caste and religion-based politics rampant during the past three decades.

    While campaigning on 51 of the 54 seats going to polls in the last phase ended at 6 PM, on the three Naxal-hit seats of Chakiya, Robertsganj and Duddhi, it concluded at 4 PM.

    Polling on these 54 seats spread across nine districts on March 7 will also mark the end of the almost month-long voting process in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh that had begun on February 10 after the announcement of elections in mid-January.

    A ban on public rallies by the Election Commission due to rising COVID-19 cases affected the campaigning initially but as the curbs were gradually lifted in February, the usual buzz of electioneering was visible.

    The counting of votes will be undertaken on March 10.

    According to the Chief Electoral Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla all necessary arrangements have been made for free, fair and transparent polling in the seventh phase in Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra districts.

    A total of 613 candidates will be trying their luck in this phase on the 54 seats which include 11 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and two for the Scheduled Tribes by an electorate consisting around 2.06 crores.

    This final round will also be a test of the alliances carved by both the BJP and Samajwadi Party with small caste-based parties.

    BJP’s allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Party and Akhilesh Yadav’s new friends Apna Dal (K), Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of Om Prakash Rajbhar and others have been trying to rally their supporters.

    Once considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party, the region saw BJP making inroads in 2017 by winning 29 seats along with its allies Apna Dal (4) and SBSP (3).

    The BSP got six seats and Samajwadi Party 11 seats.

    For the Samajwadi Party, its patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav made another rare appearance in Jaunpur to drum up support for Lucky Yadav, son of his long-time associate late Parasnath Yadav in the fray from Malhani seat.

    Mulayam Singh had earlier campaigned for his son and party president Akhilesh Yadav on Karhal seat in Mainpuri.

    Besides UP Tourism Minister Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi south) other ministers in the fray in the last leg are 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 Yogi Adityanath cabinet and joined the Samajwadi Party is also in contesting from Ghosi in Mau.

    SBSP president Om Prakash Rajbhar (Zahoorabad), Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur) as JD(U) candidate and Abbas Ansari, son of mafia turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, from Mau Sadar seat are contesting in this phase.

  • Assembly polls: Record seizure of cash, drugs from Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A record Rs 328 crore worth of inducements to voters such as cash, liquor and narcotics have been seized in Uttar Pradesh since the announcement of the assembly poll schedule on January 8, Election Commission sources said on Thursday.

    The cumulative seizure of such illegal inducements in the five poll-going states — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab — stood at Rs 1,039.50 crore, the sources said, adding that it included drugs worth Rs 571.34 crore.

    The seizure figure in Uttar Pradesh up to Thursday was Rs 328.33 crore, 1.70 times more than the total combined seizure of Rs 193.29 crore in the entire assembly polls held in 2017 in the state.

    Like last time, this time too assembly polls in the state are being held in seven phases.

    While voting is over in Punjab, Goa and Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur still have one phase each to go.

    The commission, the sources said, has been laying special emphasis on inducement-free elections and curbing the malaise of undue money power, liquor and freebies.

    A total of 128 expenditure observers have been deployed in Uttar Pradesh for effective monitoring.

    Over 1,800 flying squads and 2,104 static surveillance teams were operationalised to check movement of cash, liquor, drugs and freebies in Uttar Pradesh.

    Eight air intelligence units of the Income Tax Department have been formed in Uttar Pradesh.

    Voting for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls began on Thursday morning, with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and several prominent faces among the 676 candidates who are contesting on 57 seats spread across 10 districts.

    Around 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.

    Till now, voting for 292 of the 403 Assembly seats has been completed.

    The final phase of the elections in the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.

  • BJP is ‘losing’ in Uttar Pradesh: Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee while campaigning for Samajwadi Party

    By PTI

    VARANASI: Describing herself as a “fighter”, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that she was attacked by BJP workers after she arrived for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh in support of the Samajwadi Party.

    “I was coming from the airport yesterday and going to the (Dashashwamedh) ghat. Midway, some BJP workers, who have nothing in their brain except violence, stopped my vehicle. They hit my car, pushed me and told me to go back,” Banerjee claimed.

    “It was then that I thought, they are going out (of power). They are completely gone, their defeat is imminent,” the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief said.

    Banerjee said she was in Uttar Pradesh for a political meeting and wondered why the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was so bothered about it.

    “I am not a coward, I am a fighter. I have fought for a long time. The CPM attacked me in the past, I was attacked with sticks and shots were fired at me several times in the past. But I never bowed down,” she added.

    Banerjee said when “abuses were being hurled” at her on Wednesday, she got down from the car and stood silent for some time to see what the attackers could do.

    “I wanted to see what you can do. How much strength you have. But you are a coward. I saw it and thanked them. They attacked my car, pushed me. I said thank you because I knew the message is clear that the BJP is losing, why else attack me,” she claimed.

    She said if her coming to Uttar Pradesh once can ensure BJP’s defeat, she would come to the state a thousand times.

    “It’s not so easy, Khela hoga,” Banerjee said, referring to the Hindi variation of the Bangla phrase which was the poll anthem of the TMC in West Bengal elections last year in which it defeated the BJP.

  • UP polls 6th phase: About 9 per cent polling till 9 am 

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: About 9 per cent voting was witnessed in the first two hours for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on Thursday.

    The prominent faces among the 676 candidates contesting on 57 seats spread across 10 districts in this phase include Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban and state Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj.

    The voting started at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.

    Around 2.15 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase. So far, voting for 292 of the 403 Assembly seats has been completed.

    The final phase of the elections on the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.

    ALSO READ | Sixth phase of UP polls: Polling begins on 57 Assembly seats, Adityanath among prominent candidates

    The districts where polling is being held on Thursday are Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharth Nagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.

    In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BJP had won 46 of the 57 seats.

    In the first two hours till 9 am there was an average of 8.69 per cent polling, according to the Election Commission of India’s Turnout app.

    While Ambedkarnagar had 9.54 per cent voting, Ballia had 7.59 per cent, Balrampur 8.10 per cent, Basti 9.83 per cent, Deoria 8.44 per cent, Gorakhpur 8.92 per cent, Kushinagar 9.69 per cent, Mahrajganj 8.9 per cent, Sant Kabir Nagar 6.76 per cent and Siddharth Nagar 8.24 per cent.

    Among those who cast their votes in the morning included Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Basic Education Minister Satish Dwivedi, Leader of Opposition Ram Govind Chowdhury, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, minister Upendra Tiwari and former minister Narad Rai.

    Talking to reporters after casting his votes, the chief minister said that there will be 80 per cent votes for BJP and in the rest 20 per cent will get divided among the opposition.

    He also appealed to people to vote in large numbers.

    The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of the late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath.

    Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also contesting against the Uttar Pradesh chief minister from Gorakhpur Urban.

    ALSO READ | Phase six of UP polls: OBC, MBCs will come into play to save parties’ pride

    Swami Prasad Maurya, who was a minister in the Adityanath government and had quit the BJP to join the Samajwadi Party, is contesting from Fazilnagar.

    The Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is contesting from Bansdih.

    Many incumbent ministers’ fate will also be decided in this phase.

    They include Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva, Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from Khajani and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.

    The campaigning for this phase witnessed the political parties going for an all-out attack against each other.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the BJP’s rivals by tagging them as dynasts, who he claimed can never make India capable or empower Uttar Pradesh.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi rebutted by saying that the BJP is only against her family, which did not bow down before it.

    Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy of ending reservation and “selling” government entities to the private sector.

  • Centre should realise humanity is more important than politics: Mamata Banerjee on Russia-Ukraine crisis

    By PTI

    KOLKATA: Asserting that it is the Centre’s responsibility to bring back Indians stranded in war-hit Ukraine, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said the Union government should realise that humanity is more important than politics.

    She also urged the NDA government at the Centre to take lead in peace talks.

    “It is the Union government’s responsibility to bring back Indians stuck in war-hit Ukraine. The Centre should ensure safe return of all the stranded Indians. I am in favour of peace, not war. The COVID-19 pandemic has already destroyed a lot. India can lead talks to maintain world peace,” Banerjee said.

    Her comments came a day after a medical student from Karnataka’s Haveri district was killed in intense shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday, marking India’s first casualty in the war.

    Banerjee was speaking to reporters here before leaving for Uttar Pradesh to campaign for the Samajwadi Party in the ongoing assembly polls there.

    “Humanity is more important than politics and the central government should realise this. Lives of students are more important than politics,” she said.

    Asked whether her request for an all-party meeting has received any response, Banerjee said, “I have done my duty. Now it is for them to decide. Maybe they are busy with elections.”

    Banerjee had offered unconditional support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Ukraine crisis and requested him to consider calling an all-party meeting to take a united stand on the issue.

  • Sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh polls on Thursday to decide fate of big-wigs, including Yogi Adityanath

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The sixth round of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls will see voting for 57 seats on Thursday sealing the fate of political heavyweights such as Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the Congress’ Ajay Kumar Lallu and Samajwadi Party’s Swami Prasad Maurya.

    With voting for 292 out of 403 assembly seats over, the polling has now moved to the Purvanchal region of the state where 111 seats are up for grabs.

    Of the remaining constituencies, 57 seats, spread across 10 districts, will go to the polls on Thursday and 54 in the final phase on March 10.

    The districts where polling is to be held on Thursday are Ambedkarnagar, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria and Ballia.

    These 57 assembly segments, of which 11 are reserved, are crucial for the BJP.

    In the 2017 assembly polls, it had won 46 of these seats.

    Chief Electoral Officer of Uttar Pradesh Ajay Kumar Shukla said the campaign for the sixth phase ended at 6 pm on Tuesday and all preparations for voting have been completed.

    Among the 676 candidates in the fray this time are Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur Urban fighting his first assembly polls, state Congress president Lallu from Tamkuhi Raj seat and Swami Prasad Maurya, who quit as BJP minister to join the Samajwadi Party, from Fazilnagar.

    The Samajwadi Party has pitted the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath.

    Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also a contesting against the chief minister.

    Leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly and Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is contesting from Bansdih.

    Many incumbent ministers’ electoral fate will also be decided in this phase.

    They include Surya Pratap Shahi trying his luck from Pathardeva seat, Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from Khajani and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.

    Surendra Singh, the incumbent MLA from Bairia in Ballia, who joined the Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), a new entrant in Uttar Pradesh electoral politics, will face the electorate in this phase.

    He had crossed over to the VIP after being denied a ticket by the BJP.

    The campaigning in this phase witnessed the political parties go on an all-out attack on each other.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi had attacked the BJP’s rivals by tagging them as ‘ghor pariwarvadi’ (staunch dynasts) who, he claimed, can never make India capable or Uttar Pradesh empowered.

    Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi rebutted by saying the BJP was only against her family, which has not bowed down to the saffron party.

    Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav had accused the BJP of hatching a conspiracy of ending reservation and “selling” government organisations to the private sector.

    There are a total of over 2.14 crore voters in this phase.

  • Uttar Pradesh elections: Voting percentage for all phases same as in 2017 polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Voters’ turnout in almost two-thirds of the assembly seats during five rounds of polling in Uttar Pradesh is more or less the same as in the 2017 polls, leaving political parties and experts guessing whether it’s pro-incumbency or anti-incumbency votes.

    A look at the voters’ turnout in the 2019 general elections in the state also doesn’t reflect much of a difference. While some attribute it to coronavirus, others say voters have tested all the parties in the polls and hence are not enthused by new poll promises made by the competing parties.

    Out of the seven-phase elections, the politically important state has completed five rounds and the rest two are lined up on March 3 and March 7. Results will be declared on March 10 along with that of Punjab, Uttrakhand, Goa and Manipur.

    The opening phase of the elections on February 10 saw a voter turnout of 62.43 per cent in the 58 assembly constituencies in western Uttar Pradesh. It was 63.47 per cent in 2017 and 61.84 per cent in the last general elections.

    But, Kairana which had earlier hit the headlines because of reported migration due to bad law and order saw a leap from 69.56 to 75.12 per cent voting this time.

    As per data available with the election office, the second phase of polling on 55 assembly segments on February 14 registered 64.42 per cent vis-a-vis 65.53 per cent five years back and 63.13 per cent in the last Parliamentary elections.

    The hot seat Rampur of jailed SP leader Azam Khan saw almost a ditto voters’ turnout at 63.92 per cent vis-a-vis 63.97 in 2017.

    The third phase which saw voting in the Karhal constituency from where Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav is contesting witnessed a 62.28 voting percentage as compared to 62.21 per cent five years back and 59.73 in the last general elections.

    Reports suggest it is the second-highest voting percentage in Mulayam Singh Yadav’s bastion, after 71.4 per cent in 1974.

    The fourth round on February 23 which saw voting in the state capital Lucknow among others on 59 seats, saw nearly 61.52 per cent voting as per voters turnout App of the Election Commission as compared to 62.55 per cent in 2017 and 60.3 per cent in 2019.

    Fifth-round on 61 seats including that in Ayodhya, Prayagraj, Amethi and Raebareli on February 27 witnessed 57.32 per cent voting while it was 58.24 in 2017 and 55.31 in 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

    For the sixth phase on March 3 which will see voting in the high-profile seat of Gorakhpur Urban from where Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is in the fray, the challenge is to cross the voting percentage of 56.52 in 2017.

    So is in the last round on March 7 which includes Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency where the 2017 mark was 59.56 per cent.

    It was 57.48 in the last parliamentary polls. On voters’ turnout, Yogi Adityanath says it’s more and less the same as last time and it means things are going in the right direction. Former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, when contacted, told PTI, “I wonder why the voter turnout has not increased this time. It could be because the voters’ education efforts were less this time?”

    Sanjay Kumar (Professor and Co-Director of Lokniti, a Research Programme at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies) told PTI, “If you compare with the previous elections, the turnout is not very low. It varies by 1-2 per cent.”

    “Normally, whenever people decide to change the government, there is an atmosphere about it, which in turn increases the turnout. This was visible in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, as the polling percentage increased as compared to the 2009 elections,” he said.

    “There is ‘udaaseentaa’ (indifference) in the minds of the voter (towards voting). Now, whether it is indifference towards anti-incumbency or pro-incumbency, it will be known only after the results are declared,” the psephologist said.

    State BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said, “Irrespective of the voters’ turnout, the BJP voters are coming out of their home and voting for the party. However, the same cannot be said about other political parties, as their voters seem to be inactive. This can be possibly due to the rift within the SP-led alliance.”

    Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajpal Kashyap said that discrepancies in the voter list and people moving out of the state for work after easing in the covid situation have reduced the polling percentage. “However, the SP is gaining ground in every phase,” he said.

    His Congress counterpart Ashok Singh said, “It is a festival of democracy, and the party is contesting with full energy. We will throw surprising results. The slogan ‘ladhki hoon, ladh saktee hoon’ has ushered in a political revolution.”

    Manoj Goswami (75), a resident of Lucknow central assembly constituency, said, “I did not cast my vote fearing that I will get infected with COVID-19.” Sushil Kashyap, a tea seller in Lucknow Latouche road says, “We have seen all the parties’ governments. They all are almost the same.”

    Amid inertia shown by many voters, the five phases witnessed some pleasant examples. In Prayagraj’s Allahpur, 78-year-old Bhuri Pathak suffering from a hip fracture went to the polling station in an ambulance to exercise her franchise.

    In Lucknow, a mother who delivered a baby, turned up at a polling booth the next day. There are over 14.66 lakh first-time voters (18-19 years old) in UP polls this time. Overall more than 52 lakh names of new voters were added for the 2022 polls.

    The count of total voters in UP polls is over 15.02 crore. Due to the COVID pandemic, the Election Commission has extended voting time by an hour.

  • BJP only working for ‘big businesses’: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi

    By PTI

    RAEBARELI: Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Sunday said BJP has forgotten it’s “raj dharma” of serving the common people and is only working for big businesses.

    She said this while addressing a rally in Jagatpur area of Raebareli asking people to watch out for those who use “religion and caste” to get votes.

    “BJP leaders have forgotten their religion of serving people. The religion for them has become a means to instigate people to get votes. The government is not following ‘raj dharma’ of serving people,” Priyanka said.

    Talking about inflation, she said the prices of gas cylinder and musterd oil have gone up.

    “You earn Rs 200 daily and a bottle of mustard oil is of Rs 240,” she said.

    She spoke of unemployment among youths and the plight of farmers in the state accusing the government of stoking religious sentiments to divert people’s attentions from these issues.

    The leader also alleged unnecessary expenditure by the centre overlooking the money it owed to the farmers.

    “The entire due amount of sugarcane farmers is Rs 14,000 crore but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has bought two aeroplanes worth Rs 16,000 crore for himself. He is visiting the world in them but not paying the dues of the farmers,” she said.

    “Congress government waived of loans of farmers but these days the loans of big businessmen are being waived,” the leader said.

    Priyanka alleged people are forced to pay electricity bill in every situation even if they don’t get electricity.

    “The three major schemes of BJP are a free cylinder, free ration, and some money you get in your banks.

    “Can the future of your children be strengthened only by free gas cylinder, free ration, and some money. The government must provide jobs and support businesses, something that’s not being done,” she said The Congress leader accused the government of callousness saying Modi didn’t bother to meet victims of Lakhimpur violence, and came up with an apology to protesting farmers only when the election were round the corner.

    “Prime minister visited so many countries in the past few years including Pakistan but has not gone to meet the protesting farmers. The Prime Minister came and apologised for the farm laws just before elections.

    “Why did they wait for a year to do it resulted in death of 700 farmers,” she said.

    Priyanka also attacked Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, saying she never saw him working for people in her three years of work in Uttar Pradesh.

    “I have been actively working in UP for the last three years but never saw Akhilesh Yadav leave his house. Just before elections he has come out in his bus to seek votes. In the last three years Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati were nowhere to be seen.”

  • BSP announces candidates on 47 seats for seventh phase of Uttar Pradesh polls

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: The BSP released a list of 47 candidates on Sunday for the seventh phase of the ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

    The list includes candidates for the constituencies of Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra districts. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has attempted to strike a fine caste balance in its list of candidates.

    The Mayawati-led party has fielded its state president Bhim Rajbhar against mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who is presently lodged in the Banda jail, from Mau. Five-time MLA Ansari won the 2017 Assembly election from Mau on a BSP ticket.

    The BSP had won four seats in Azamgarh district five years ago but this time, it has re-nominated only Azad Arimardan from the Lalganj reserved seat.

    Sukhdev Rajbhar, who won from the Didarganj constituency in Azamgarh in 2017, died last year, while Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, who won from Mubarakpur, quit the party subsequently.

    Vandana Singh, who won the 2017 polls on a BSP ticket from Sagdi, is in the fray from the BJP this time.

    The BSP has fielded Shankar Yadav from Sagadi, Abdusalam from Mubarakpur and Bhupendra Singh alias Munna from Didarganj.

    In the Zahoorabad seat in Ghazipur district, the BSP has nominated former Uttar Pradesh minister (during the SP regime) Syeda Shadab Fatima against Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Omprakash Rajbhar.

    Fatima, who was in the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) of Shivpal Yadav, joined the BSP recently.

    In Varanasi’s Shivpur constituency, the BSP has nominated Ravi Maurya against state minister and BJP candidate Anil Rajbhar.

    Polling is scheduled to be held in 54 Assembly constituencies in nine districts of Uttar Pradesh in the seventh phase of the ongoing election on March 7.

  • Uttar Pradesh elections: Rampur’s fierce battle centres around Samajwadi Party’s Azam Khan

    Express News Service

    RAMPUR (UTTAR PRADESH): One of the most keenly anticipated contests in Uttar Pradesh is taking place in the Muslim-dominated seat of Rampur, where jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is up against Congress’ Kazim Ali Khan and BJP’s Akash Saxena.

    What lends an edge to this contest is how Kazim and Saxena are trying to corner the nine-time MLA, and arguably the tallest Muslim leader in the state, Azam Khan. In fact, as one travels around Rampur, it can be seen that all poll-related conversations are polarised around just one subject – Azam Khan.

    ALSO READ| Uttar Pradesh polls: ‘Ghar ka ladka’ Akhilesh Yadav takes on Union minister SPS Baghel in Karhal

    Against him pitted is his old rival Kazim Ali Khan, son of the last Nawab of Rampur, whose parents won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat seven times on Congress ticket. The other contender, Saxena, also has a history with Azam, as his father, former BJP minister Shiv Bahadur Saxena, lost the Assembly polls from this seat to Azam Khan way back in 1989. Saxena, a lawyer, is responsible for more than half of the cases filed against the SP leader.

    During his poll campaign 46-year-old Saxena boasts about filing 30 of the over 100 FIRs against the SP veteran while Kazim claims he is the one who is to be credited for exposing Azam. “Saxena may have followed up on a few cases but people of Rampur know that I am the one who filed the very first complaint and exposed the many frauds and crimes of Azam Khan and his family,” Kazim says.

    He adds that Azam Khan’s “so-called development was only for himself”. 

    According to retired government employee Ramesh Pandey, this election is about development and good law-and-order brought about by Yogi Adityanath versus Azam Khan’s work in Rampur. “It is true that Azam Khan brought unparalleled development to Rampur but we have to think holistically this time,” Pandey says.

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    Panwesi Lal, who works at a shoe shop, has a different view. “Rampur is way ahead in development compared to other places in UP so, Azam Khan has to be brought to power again,” he said.

    Lal’s co-worker Ashok Kumar agrees but says Azam Khan’s absence from campaigning has made things difficult for the SP leader, so much so that he could lose his seat for the very first time.

    Lal doesn’t let Kumar finish his argument and points to the e-rickshaw going past saying, “Doesn’t matter that Azam Khan is in jail but people like those who got jobs through e-rickshaws are there to vouch for him.”

    Many in Rampur agreed with Lal’s view. Fahim Khan, a lawyer in the city, said, “Azam Khan’s absence will only bring more votes for Khan as his work is there for everyone to see.”