Rivals eye SP votepie as battle for UP shifts East in last phases
141 SEATS TO GO In the 25 districts that will vote in the last three phases, SP bagged 87 seats followed by BSP with 17, the BJP with 16 and the Congress with 12 in 2012 elections
East Uttar Pradesh, voting for which will be held in the remaining three phases beginning Monday, may prove to be the decider in an election which no one is willing to call.
As many as 141 constituencies spread across 25 districts are still to be voted for.
In 2012 state election, the Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 87 of these seats, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) 17, the BJP 16 and the Congress emerged victorious in 12 segments.
On Monday, the fifth phase, voting will be held for 51 seats in 12 districts. These districts include Amethi, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar (considered in central UP), and Bahraich and Shravasti in Terai region.
Amethi will perhaps be the most watched constituency. The Supreme Court recently ordered a gang-rape case against the sitting MLA, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati of the ruling SP.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav had dropped Prajapati from his cabinet on corruption charges but had to take him back allegedly under pressure from party patriarch and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Prajapati is up against Garima Sinh of the BJP and Congress’ Amita Sinh, who is the wife of senior Congress leader Sanjay Sinh. Garima is his estranged wife.
Though the SP and Congress have joined hands to contest the UP election, in Amethi they are locked in a “friendly contest”, which is being repeated in Gauriganj seat of the district.
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi represents Amethi in the Lok Sabha. There are five assembly segments in it and the poll outcome will be closely watched.
Another candidate of interest in the fifth phase is Arun Kumar Verma, seeking a re-election from Sultanpur Sadar. Like party colleague Prajapati, Verma was recently booked in a murder case.
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