Phase-3 of Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on Sunday
LUCKNOW: Preparations are complete for polling on Sunday in 69 Assembly constituencies that figure in phase-III of the staggered elections in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh’s Lok Sabha constituency Lucknow, and Samajwadi Party strongholds Kannauj, Mainpuri and Etawah, figure in this round. Farrukhabad, Hardoi, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur, Unnao, Barabanki and Sitapur are among the 12 districts where these Assembly seats are spread over.
Etawah is the native place of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, while another key district is Mainpuri, from where Tej Pratap Yadav is an SP MP. From Kannauj Dimple Yadav, wife of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is an MP.
In the 2012 Assembly polls, SP had won 55 of these 69 seats, while Bahujan Samaj Party, BJP and Congress secured just six, five and two respectively. One seat went to an Independent.
A total of 826 candidates are in fray, whose fate will be decided by 24.1 million voters, including 11.0 million women and 1,026 belonging to third gender category.
While the maximum number of 21 candidates are in Etawah, minimum of three candidates are in Haidergarh (Barabanki). Lucknow West and Central have 17 candidates each.
Voting will take place in 25,603 polling booths in this phase. Prominent among those whose prestige will be at stake is Nitin Agarwal, son of SP leader Naresh Agarwal, BSP turncoat Brijesh Pathak from Lucknow (Central) on BJP ticket and Congress turncoat Rita Bahuguna Joshi from Lucknow Cantt, who is pitted against Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna.
SP leader Shivpal too is a key figure in this round. He is contesting from Jaswant Nagar seat.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah led the saffron brigade, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati criss-crossed the constituencies where the stakes of their party are high.