The Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held over seven phases between February 10 and March 7. The state assembly polls will have dominating issues playing out that is likely to influence people's mandate - including party alliances and development agenda.
In Uttar Pradesh, the first phase polling will be held on February 10, the second phase on February 14, the third phase on February 20, the fourth phase on February 23, the fifth phase on February 27, the sixth phase on March 3, and the seventh phase on March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
As electioneering is gaining momentum and voters in Uttar Pradesh are eagerly waiting for their chance to cast votes, here's a look at top candidates and constituencies to watch out for.
Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath | Photo Credit: PTI
Yogi Adityanath, who has been declared BJP candidate from Gorakhpur will be the second leader to contest from the district as a Chief Minister after Tribhuvan Narayan Singh, who lost in 1971. Gorakhpur is the hometown of Adityanath. He had been the MP from Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat since 1998 until he became the chief minister in 2017.
Akhilesh Yadav
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav | Photo: PTI
Former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will contest his first-ever Assembly elections from Karhal seat in Mainpuri district. Akhilesh Yadav is an MP from Azamgarh seat. The Karhal Assembly seat is part of the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency represented by party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav.
The Karhal constituency is just four kilometres from Saifai, the native village of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Except for 2002, the constituency is with the SP since 1993. In the 2002 Assembly polls, sitting MLA Sobaran Singh had contested on the BJP ticket. Thereafter, he joined the SP and won three times consecutively.
Keshav Prasad Maurya
UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya |
UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from the Sirathu assembly seat in the Kaushambi district. Maurya had won the Sirathu seat for the first time for BJP in 2012.
After Maurya got elected from Phulpur in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party's Vachaspati won the Sirathu seat in the by-poll. In 2017, however, the BJP's Sheetla Prasad defeated Vachaspati and won back the seat. This time, Maurya will be pitted against SP's Pallavi Patel, the estranged sister of Union Minister of State and Apna Dal (S) chief Anupriya Patel.
Azam Khan
(PTI Photo/Arun Sharma)
The Samajwadi Party has fielded jailed Azam Khan from his traditional Rampur seat. Khan, MP from Rampur, is lodged in Sitapur jail since Feb 2020 in case of land grabbing and several others. Azam Khan had won from the Rampur assembly seat in the 2017 elections, bagging over 47 per cent of polled votes. He was later elected to Lok Sabha in 2019.
Chandra Shekhar Aazad
Azad Samaj Party (ASP) president and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad will contest against incumbent CM Yogi Adityanath for the Gorakhpur Urban constituency.
Archana Gautam
Archana Gautam with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra | (Instagram / archanagautamm)
The Congress party has fielded actor-model Archana Gautam from the Hastinapur constituency in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Gautam joined the Congress in November last year after a brief stint in acting where she starred in movies such as “Great Grand Masti” and “Haseena Parker”. She was also winner of the 2018 Miss Bikini India pageant.
