CANDIDATES BACKED BY MAJOR PARTIES

SANYUKTA BHATIA (BJP)

BJP’s mayoral candidate Sanyukta Bhatia is wife of former party lawmaker Satish Bhatia. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath and party leaders actively campaigned for her in the state capital.

Meera Talwar Vardhan (Samajwadi Party)

Meera Talwar Vardhan, the Samajwadi Party’s mayoral candidate for Lucknow, did her schooling from Loreto Convent, textile designing from South Delhi Polytechnic and graduation from Meerut University. She is married to Yasho Vardhan, grandson of socialist stalwart Acharya Narendra Dev. Tuesday happened to be the 128th birth anniversary of Acharya Dev. Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav visited his memorial on the banks of the Gomti to pay tribute.

Bulbul Godiyal (BSP)

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) fielded Bulbul Godiyal, senior lawyer, Lucknow Bench of Allahabad high court, as its mayoral candidate. Godiyal, married to Dr Sudhir Goyal, is daughter of well-known lawyer Robin Mitra. She did her schooling from St Agnes’ Loreto Day School, Intermediate from IT College and graduation from Government Women’s College, Rohtak, Haryana. She did post- graduation in English and LLB from Lucknow University. A member of Bar Council of UP, she has more than 26 years of practice in Lucknow Bench of Allahabad high court. She was the first woman additional advocate-general of Uttar Pradesh from June 2012 to March 2017.

Prema Awasthi (CONG)

The Congress’ Prema Awasthi, aged around 60 years, holds the post of general secretary in UP Congress Committee (UPCC) and has a long political career. Her husband, late Surendra Awasthi was a two-time MLA from Haidergarh. Despite her political experience, this mayoral battle will not be easy for Prema. Congress’ shrinking vote bank will be a major hurdle before her.

Priyanka Maheshwari (AAP)

Priyanka Maheshwari, mayoral candidate for AAP, is wife of AAP district coordinator Gaurav Maheshwari who resigned from the post due to his wife’s candidature. She is an MBA graduate and manages family business. She promised to cut down house and water tax by half and start ‘mohalla clinics’ on the lines of Delhi.