UP Elections 2022 phase 6: Voting underway in 57 seats
The voting for the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections 2022 began at 7 am on Thursday. In this phase, 57 seats across 10 districts are going to polls. These districts include Gorakhpur, Ballia, Kushinagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Ambedkar Nagar, and Deoria. Meanwhile, the fate of political heavyweights--including Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party's Swami Prasad Maurya--will also be decided on Thursday.
Why does this story matter?
The assembly elections in UP are being held in seven phases from February 10 to March 7. Results will be declared on March 10. The voting for 292 out of the state's 403 assembly seats is already over. Notably, BJP had won 46 of this phase's 57 seats in the 2017 polls. Polling on the remaining 54 seats will be held on March 7.
Heavyweights in today's election
Among the 676 candidates in this phase are many incumbent ministers and top opposition leaders. UP CM Yogi Adityanath is contesting assembly elections for the first time from the Gorakhpur Urban seat. Congress' UP state president Ajay Kumar Lallu is contesting from Tamkuhi Raj seat, while SP Maurya, who quit as BJP minister to join the Samajwadi Party, is a candidate from Fazilnagar.
Incumbent ministers contesting in this phase
Among the incumbent ministers who are contesting in this phase are Surya Pratap Shahi trying his luck from Pathardeva seat, Satish Chandra Dwivedi from Itwa, Jai Pratap Singh from Bansi, Shree Ram Chauhan from Khajani, and Jai Prakash Nishad from Rudrapur.
Who are contending against Yogi in Gorakhpur Urban?
SP has fielded the wife of late BJP leader Upendra Dutt Shukla against Yogi in Gorakhpur Urban. Azad Samaj Party founder Chandrashekhar Azad is also contending from the seat. Notably, it is considered to be a safe seat for BJP, and the party has never lost it for nearly two decades. In 2017, BJP MLA RMD Agrawal won the seat with a 60,000-vote margin.
OBCs, MBCs dominate on over 50% seats
The outcome of this phase will reportedly depend on the Other Backward Castes and Most Backward Castes, who dominate nearly 30 seats. BJP is expecting to gain support from the boatman community owing to its alliance with the Nishad Party. Meanwhile, opposition SP is relying on its ally Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has a broad support base among the Rajbhars and other MBCs.
