The politically crucial Uttar Pradesh has now drove into its third phase with a voter turnaround of around 62 per cent. All leading parties including Samajwadi Party (SP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BSP) along with Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are eying at forming the government with full majority. The state has witnessed some high-decibel rallies and roadshows where all major political parties have tried their best to lure voters. The ongoing polls is going to be a test for chief minister Akhilesh Yadav as the party has soon came out from the shadow of a theatrical family feud. However, looking at the current situation, Akhilesh has managed to build an image of ‘leader for youth’ and have gained a huge vote bank. His ‘kaam bolta hai’ campaign has gained a good response in rural as well as the urban areas of the state. But there has been a little anger against him because of the law-and-order failure in the state.

Though this time there is no ‘Modi wave’ like it was during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, but the BJP, backing on its star campaigner PM Narendra Modi, has successfully managed to create a strong foothold in some casts and communities. Though, the chief ministerial face of BJP in UP has not been announced yet, but the saffron party is confident of forming government with full majority. BJP has blamed SP of acting as a roadblock to the development of the state for years.

Making it a high- octane three way battle, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has emerged as a strong contender in this political run. However, BSP has been struggling to increase its vote bank apart from some particular communities. Even the votes of Muslim community have gone to her in limited areas where the candidates fielded are very strong. With such high voter turnout in all the three phases of the polls so far, it clearly indicates that the electorate is turning out to vote to effect a major change.

Kushinagar is constituency No. 333 of Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly. It is situated in Kushinagar district which is part of the Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh. It comes under the Kushinagar Lok Sabha constituency which came into existence following Delimitation in 2008. It is an open constituency.

Number of voters
As per the Election Commission data, Kushinagar has 3,24,165 registered voters out of which 1,79,372 are male and 1,44,779 female registered voters.

What are the key issues
Development and law-and-order are some major issues in this region.

Who was the winner last time
SP won this constituency by 23,688 votes during the 2012 Assembly elections. Bramhashankar Tripathi who won from SP bagged 66,489 votes followed by Jawed Iqbal of BSP who got 42,801 votes. The voter turnout was 55.43 per cent.

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Who are the competing candidates
Brahmashankar Tripathi (SP), Rajnikant Mani Tripathi (BJP), Rajesh Pratap Rav (BSP) and Radhika Devi (IND).

Why this constituency is important?
Though SP won this seat in 2012 assembly polls, but BJP is expected to give a tough fight to the ruling party this time. The saffron party has joined forces with several smaller parties in order to expand its reach in the region.