The seven-phase election in electorally crucial Uttar Pradesh will begin on February 10 with 58 Assembly seats spread over 11 districts going to polls in the first phase.
The elections, which were initially seen as a one-sided contest, have gradually turned into a prestige battle between the ruling BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance.
The seats going to polls in the first phase are situated in western UP, which is seen as a game-changer area, given the Muslim-Jat voter base in the area, which is believed to be upset with the BJP over the recent farmers’ protest. The party which wins more of these seats will hold the key to power.
The first phase of UP polls will see some prominent faces and constituencies in the fray which will be crucial in the election outcome on March 10.
Here are seven key constituencies which are set to witness some fiercely fought battles in the first phase of UP elections.
Noida
In Noida, BJP’s UP vice president Pankaj Singh – son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh – faces challenge from Samajwadi Party candidate Sunil Choudhary, Congress’ Pankhuri Pathak and Aam Aadmi Party’s Pankaj Awana, a former employee of tech giant Apple.
Singh was elected to the UP assembly for the first time in 2017 elections when he got over 1.62 lakh (64.29 per cent) of the 2.54 lakh votes polled.
Muzaffarnagar
Much is at stake for both- the BJP and the SP-RLD alliance in Muzaffarnagar. While the ruling government is trying its best to remind people of the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, the opposition has got a boost as the farmers’ unions have been raising their voices against the BJP asking the voters not to support the ruling party. While the BJP has reposed its faith in sitting MLA and minister Kapil Dev Aggarwal, the SP-RLD alliance has fielded Sourabh and the Congress has fielded Subodh Sharma from the seat.
Baghpat
The SP-RLD alliance has fielded Ahmad Hameed from the Baghpat seat. The seat has grabbed the limelight after a fake Twitter post in the name of Jayant Chaudhary went viral against Hameed. Ahmed Hameed is the son of former Energy Minister late Nawab Kokab Hameed. In the past election, he was a BSP candidate from the Baghpat assembly seat and came second behind Yogesh Dhama, the sitting BJP MLA and party’s candidate for this year’s poll as well. The Congress has fielded Anil Dev Tyagi from the seat.
Mathura
Power minister in the outgoing government Shrikant Sharma is BJP’s candidate from Mathura while the Samajwadi Party has fielded former MLA Devendra Agarwal from the seat. The Congress has fielded Pradeep Mathur from the seat. While the seat has mostly been held either by the BJP or the Congress, the Samajwadi Party is looking to make its debut from the seat this year.
Atrauli
The Atrauli Assembly seat, which falls under Aligarh district, is crucial for the BJP seeking a repeat of its 2017 performance in western UP. The ruling party has reposed its faith on Sandeep Singh, the grandson of late Kalyan Singh, who won in the 2017 elections. Viresh Yadav is the candidate from SP while Congress has fielded Dharmendra Lodhi from the seat. Sandeep has been one of the few low-profile minister Yogi Adityanath government, who has steered clear of controversy in his tenure.
Kairana
Kairana in Shamli district, which grabbed the headlines after the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, has lately emerged as a key poll issue, with the BJP raising the issue of mass exodus of Hindus from the area during the Samajwadi Party government.
While the BJP has fielded Mriganka Singh, daughter of the late MP Hukum Singh, the Samajwadi Party has pitted sitting MLA Nahid Hasan from the constituency. The ruling party has attacked the SP camp for giving ticket to Hasan who was arrested on January 16 under the Gangster Act.
Mriganka and Hasan face challenge from the latter’s sister Iqra Chaudhary who has filed nomination as an Independent candidate.
While the BJP stormed into power after the 2017 elections, the Kairana seat was won by SP’s Nahid Hasan with Mriganka being the runner-up.
Thana Bhawan
In the backdrop of local farmers’ pending sugarcane dues and the year-long farmer protests against the three central agriculture laws earlier, the Thana Bhawan constituency, which has a mixed caste population, is heading for a keen electoral battle with the polling scheduled for 10 February.
Here, cane development minister Suresh Rana – a firebrand BJP leader who is also named in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots – faces challenge from Congress’ Satya Sayyam Saini and RLD’s Ashraf Ali former chairman of the Jalalabad civic body.
In the 2017 polls, Rana had trumped the BSP’s Abdul Waris Khan by a margin of about 50,000 votes out of the nearly 2 lakh total votes polled. However, in the 2012 polls, he had squeezed through with mere 265 votes against the RLD nominee Ashraf Ali, who has now again returned to challenge him.