UP Election 2022 Phase 3: Uttar Pradesh is all set to vote in the third phase of the assembly elections on February 20. The voting will be held for 59 seats spread across 16 districts. While the main contest is primarily between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party, the BSP and the Congress can make a significant impact on a number of seats. The districts which are going to the polls are Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Kasganj, Hathras, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Auraiya, Kannauj, Etawa, Farrukhabad, Jhansi, Jalaun, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, and Mahoba. Of these 16 districts, five are in Western UP, 6 in the Awadh region and 5 in the Bundelkhand region.
Karhal Assembly Seat: The most keenly watched contest is going to be from the Karhal Assembly seat in phase 3 where Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav will take on Union Minister and BJP leader SP Singh Baghel. The Karhal seat comes under the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, dominated by Samajwadi Party since 1993 except in 2002 when BJP won the seat. This is the first time that Akhilesh Yadav is contesting the assembly polls. On the other hand, Baghel is the Agra MP.
Jaswantnagar Assembly Seat: From the Jaswantnagar seat, Shivpal Yadav is contesting on the Samajwadi Party ticket against BJP’s Vivek Shakya. Shivpal Yadav has been holding the seat since 1996 and had formed Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) on August 29, 2018 after a fallout with the Samajwadi Party. Now, he is contesting on the SP ticket after both – Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav – brushed aside the differences. On the other hand, Vivek Shakya is a young grassroots worker of the BJP.
Kannauj Assembly Seat: The seat was bagged by Samajwadi Party candidate Anil Kumar Dohare in the 2017 polls. The BJP has fielded former IPS officer Asim Arun from the seat. He had served as Kanpur Police Commissioner and joined the party in January this year. A 1994-batch IPS officer, Arun hails from Kannauj itself. Thus, the seat is his home turf and this has made the fight more interesting.
Farrukhabad Assembly Seat: From the Farrukhabad constituency, Congress has given a ticket to senior leader Salman Khurshid’s wife Louise Khurshid. Before this, Louise was elected to the UP Assembly in 2002 from the Kaimganj seat. On the other hand, the BJP has fielded sitting MLA Major Sunil Dutt Dwivedi again from the seat. BSP has fielded Vijay Kumar Katiyar while Samajwadi Party has fielded Suman Shakya from the seat.
Sirsaganj Assembly Seat: From the Sirsaganaj seat, the fight is between the Samajwadi Party and an SP-turncoat. Hari OM Yadav, a relative of Mulayam Singh Yadav, joined the BJP on January 12 after quitting the SP. He had served as the chairperson of Firozabad Zila Panchayat before being elected to the UP Legislative Assembly from Shikohabad in 2002. Though he lost in 2007, he won from the Sirsaganj seat twice in 2012 and 2017. The SP has given a ticket to Sarvesh Singh from the seat.