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News Desk: The much awaited UP assembly election is about to begin after a few hours from now. As per survey, the two main contenders are the Yogi Adityanath led BJP and Akhilesh Yadav led Samajwadi Party.
The election will be conducted in seven phases. The first phase will begin tomorrow.
The districts where the elections will be held on Feb 10 are – Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
But let’s have a look at the key seats for the first phase.
Kairana
Kairana has been at the forefront of the political tussle and has emerged as a crucial poll issue. The issue of the mass exodus from the region was raised by the BJP towards the Samajwadi Party.
The Akhilesh Yadav led SP has come under fire for renominating Nahid Hasan despite him facing multiple criminal cases relating to fraud and extortion.
On January 15, Hasan was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police in a case registered under the Uttar Pradesh Gangsters and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act and remanded to judicial custody by the MP/MLA court.
Candidates
BJP: Mriganka Singh
SP: Nahid Hasan
BSP: Rajendra Singh Upadhyaya
Congress: Haji Akhlaq
Muzaffarnagar
BJP and other opposition parties raked up the Muzaffarnagar riots issue during campaigning. This constituency has become a test case to determine whether farmers are willing to trust the SP-RLD combine despite the anger against the farm laws.
Candidates
BJP: Kapil Dev Aggarwal
RLD: Saurabh Swarup Bansal
BSP: Pushpankar Pal
Congress: Subodh Sharma
Thana Bhawan
Thana Bhawan constituency is home to UP Cane Development Minister and two-time MLA Suresh Rana. The local community’s biggest complaint is that he hasn’t done enough to help the sugarcane farmers in the area.
Despite government charges, farmers claim that their local BJP MLA and Minister Rana could have done more to collect them dues from mills like the Bajaj sugar mill in Thana Bhawan, which is one of the largest in West UP and a key source of sugarcane sales in Shamli.
Candidates
BJP: Suresh Rana
RLD: Ashraf Ali
BSP: Jaheer Malik
Congress: Satya Sayyam Saini
Sardhana
BJP gave a ticket to Muzaffarnagar riots accused Sangeet Som. He was arrested on September 20, 2013, for allegedly uploading a fake video that played a role in triggering communal tensions. This is being looked at as an interesting contest owing to the impact of the farmers’ unrest and the perception of anti-incumbency.
Candidates
BJP: Sangeet Som
SP: Atul Pradhan
BSP: Sanjeev Dhama
Congress: Syed Rianuddin
Mathura
Shrikant Sharma is BJP’s candidate and the power minister. In opposition, Samajwadi Party has fielded Devendra Agarwal & Pradeep Mathur of Congress are contesting the assembly seat. This seat has mostly been held by either BJP or congress.
Candidates
BJP: Shrikant Sharma
SP: Devendra Agarwal
BSP: Satish Sharma
Congress: Pradeep Mathur
Agra Rural
BJP fielding ex Uttarakhand Governor Babi Rani Maurya from here. Having served as the Mayor of Agra from 1995 to 2000, Baby Rani Maurya narrowly lost to her BSP opponent from the Etmadpur seat in the 2007 Assembly polls.
On August 26, 2018, she took oath as the Uttarakhand Governor becoming the second woman Governor of the state after Margaret Alva. Maurya stepped down from her post on September 8, 2021, and was appointed as the BJP vice president by party president JP Nadda 12 days later.
Candidates
BJP: Baby Rani Maurya
RLD: Mahesh Kumar Jatav
BSP: Kiran Prabha Kesari
Congress: Upendra Singh
Noida
Noida is perceived as a prestigious seat for BJP as Defence Minister and former UP CM Rajnath Singh’s son Pankaj Singh is seeking re-election from here.
Candidates
BJP: Pankaj Singh
SP: Sunil Choudhary
BSP: Kirpa Ram Sharma
Congress: Pankhuri Pathak
Baghpat
Yogesh Dhama is the sitting BJP MLA and faces competition against Ahmad Hameed from the alliance of SP-RLD & Anil Dev Tyagi from Congress. The seat was in the spotlight after a fake Twitter post by Jayant Chaudhary went viral against Hameed.
Candidates
BJP: Yogesh Dhama
RLD: Ahmed Hameed
BSP: Arun Kasana
Congress: Anil Dev Tyagi
