The 7-phased election in Uttar Pradesh is drawing to a close with the final phase of voting set to take place on Monday (March 7). Polling will begin at 7 am and continue till 6 pm in nine districts – Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.
As many as 2.06 crore eligible voters will seal the fate of 613 candidates contesting for 54 seats, including 11 reserved for Scheduled Casts and two for Scheduled Tribes, in this phase.
In 2017, the BJP had won 29 seats in this region along with its allies Apna Dal and SBSP. The SP, on the other hand, had bagged 11 seats and the BSP 6.
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For the ruling BJP, this phase is crucial for another reason – it involves assembly seats in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency, Varanasi.
At least three ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government have been fielded from various seats in this district, namely Tourism minister Neelkanth Tiwari in Varanasi South, Anil Rajbhar in Shivpur and Ravindra Jaiswal in Varanasi North.
PM Modi and BJP leaders at a rally in Varanasis’ Khajuri village on Saturday | PTI
BJP has also fielded state ministers Girish Yadav in Jaunpur and Ramashankar Singh Patel in Mirzapur’s Marihan. Dara Singh Chauhan, who resigned as a minister in the UP government to join the SP, has been fielded from Ghosi assembly seat in Mau district.
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The seventh and final phase will also be a test of the BJP’s alliance partners – Apna Dal (Soneylal) and Nishad party. At the same time, the outcome of this phase will reflect on the SP’s allies – Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar is contesting from Zahoorabad and Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari from Mau Sadar.
High-pitched campaign
Campaigning for the seventh phase of UP Assembly polls ended on Saturday. The campaign was marked by a heated exchange of claims and counter-claims between the BJP, SP, BSP and Congress.
Highlights of campaigning for this phase included PM Narendra Modi’s multiple poll rallies and mega roadshow in Varanasi. The Prime Minister even camped in Varanasi for three days.
Samajwadi Party patron and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav made a rare appearance in Jaunpur, while Akhilesh Yadav held a joint rally with his ally Jayant Chaudhary of the RLD and West Bengal CM and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee.
Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Jayant Choudhary at a rally in Varanasi on Thursday | PTI
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati also addressed poll rallies in the Purvanchal region.
Meanwhile, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her brother Rahul Gandhi held roadshows and visited the Kashi Vishwanath temple in a bid to revive the party’s presence in Uttar Pradesh.
Counting of votes in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa will take place on March 10.
