UP Election 2022: Over 2.24 crore voters in Uttar Pradesh will decide the fate of as many as 692 candidates tomorrow when 61 assembly seats across 12 districts of Uttar Pradesh will go to polls in the fifth phase. The high-octane campaign had already concluded yesterday with senior leaders of every political party making their last-ditch effort to woo the voters.
Chief Election Officer Ajay Kumar Shukla said that voting will start at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm. The districts going to the polls are Sultanpur, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Prayagraj, Barabanki, Bahraich, Shravasti, Gonda, Amethi, Raebareli and Ayodhya.
Of the key candidates in the fray are BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister in Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet, Keshav Prasad Maurya from the Sirathu assembly seat in Kaushambi district. Maurya is facing Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) candidate Pallavi Patel, who is the sister of Anupriya Patel. Union Minister Anupriya Patel leads the Sonelal faction of the Apna Dal and has joined hands with the BJP. Apna Dal (Kamerawadi), led by her mother Krishna Patel, has allied with the Samajwadi Party. Krishna Patel is contesting from the Pratapgarh seat.
Other ministers in the fray are Siddharth Nath Singh from Allahabad West, Rajendra Singh, alias Moti Singh, from Patti (Pratapgarh), Nand Gopal Gupta Nadi from Allahabad South and Ramapati Shastri from Mankapur (Gonda). Raghuraj Pratap Singh, alias Raja Bhaiya, who is the MLA from Kunda since 1993, is once again in the fray from his party Jansatta Dal, with old aide Gulshan Yadav contesting against him on a Samajwadi Party ticket. Congress legislative party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona is fighting from Rampur Khas seat of Pratapgarh.
With the completion of polling for 61 seats tomorrow, the fate of candidates for 292 seats of the total 403 seats will be sealed in the EVMs. The last two phases of the elections will be held on March 3 and March 7.
As part of the electioneering for the fifth phase, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath have already crisscrossed the poll-bound constituencies. BJP rivals Akhilesh Yadav, chief of the Samajwadi Party, BSP supremo Mayawati and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too have toured the constituencies extensively. Congress president Sonia Gandhi had digitally addressed a rally for voters of her Raebareli constituency. In the final round of campaigning on Friday, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi jointly addressed a rally in Amethi.
(With PTI inputs)