Shivpal, other heavyweights face litmus test in crucial phase today
LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh geared up for the third phase of assembly elections with 24 million voters going to the polls on Sunday in 69 seats considered the most crucial for the ruling Samajwadi Party.
The phase covers strongholds of the ruling Yadav family – the Kanpur and Avadh regions – but experts warn that many of the socalled safe seats might see close fights because of a resurgent opposition and bitter infighting within the SP.
Of the 69 constituencies in 12 districts which go to polls, the SP had won 55 in 2012. But spurred by infighting, chief minister Akhilesh Yadav changed candidates on as many as 20 seats.
Many party heavyweights – including senior leaders Shivpal Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger daughter-inlaw Aparna Yadav – are in the poll fray.
Unlike the previous two phases, the third phase has the highest number of big fights, and figures many first-timers among 826 candidates.
The phase will be critical for both Akhilesh and Shivpal, who were locked in a bruising months-long fight for party control. The chief minister’s move of replacing 20 winners with new candidates will be put to test. For Shivpal, it will determine whether the leader, who is contesting the elections as a loner without any support from the party, is able to win on his own.
The region where voting takes place is the one through which the SP government’s flagship Agra-Lucknow expressway passes. The area comprises the potato belt, and Kannauj’s perfume industry.
The Bahujan Samaj Party, with only six sitting MLAs, and the BJP with five are trying their best to take advantage of the Yadav family feud.
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