The polling for 403 seats of Uttar Pradesh Assembly was held in seven-phase from February 10 to March 7. A total of 15,05,82,750 voters cast their votes on 1,74,351 polling stations during the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh which is currently governed by Yogi Adityanath. Yogi Adityanath (BJP) from Gorakhpur (Urban), Akhilesh Yadav (SP) from Karhal, Keshav Prasad Maurya (BJP) from Sirathu, Swami Prasad Maurya (SP) from Fazilnagar, Azam Khan (SP) from Rampur and Pankaj Singh (BJP) from Noida are some of the key faces of UP elections.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav leading from Karhal seat
The Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is leading from Karhal seat with 48379 votes. The BSP’s Kuladip Narayan is behind him with 48379 votes.
Akhilesh Yadav, a four-time MP who currently represents Azamgarh in the Lok Sabha, is contesting his first assembly election from Karhal assembly seat against the BJP’s SP Singh Baghel. At the age of 38, he became the youngest Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh. He had to resign from Kannauj parliamentary seat after his party won the Assembly elections in 2012. Karhal assembly seat is part of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency, which SP chief patron Mulayam Singh Yadav represents in Parliament.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has won from Gorakhpur Urban seat
Adityanath, a five-time former Lok Sabha MP, is contesting his first assembly election from the Gorakhpur urban seat. Gorakhpur has been BJP bastions for more than 30 years. The party has lost Gorakhpur once in 2002.
SP Singh Baghel (BJP) from Karhal seat Trailing
The BJP’s SP Singh Baghel is trailing from Mainpuri’s Karhal seat, he comes third in terms of getting votes.
SP Singh Baghel, a Union minister in Narendra Modi government, is contesting from Karhal against the former Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
In 2017, he had contested from Tundla assembly seat. In 2009, Baghel unsuccessfully contested Lok Sabha polls from Firozabad against Akhilesh on a BSP ticket.
Azam Khan (SP) from Rampur assembly seat Leading
A jailed Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan is contesting from the Muslim-dominated seat of Rampur against Congress’ Kazim Ali Khan and BJP’s Akash Saxena. Khan’s old rival Kazim Ali Khan is the son of the last Nawab of Rampur, whose parents won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat seven times on Congress ticket. The other contender, Saxena, also has a history with Azam, as his father, former BJP minister Shiv Bahadur Saxena, lost the Assembly polls from this seat to Azam Khan way back in 1989. Saxena, a lawyer, is responsible for more than half of the cases filed against the SP leader.
Guddu Jamali (AIMIM) from Mubarakpur seat Leading
Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali, a sitting MLA from BSP, is contesting against Arvind Jaiswal of BJP and the BSP’s Abdul Salaam from Mubarakpur seat on AIMIM ticket. He is the only winning candi
Nahid Hasan (Samajwadi Party) from Kairana seat Leading
Nahid Hasan is contesting from Kairana seat on Samajwadi Party ticket. He was recently arrested by UP Police and remanded to judicial custody. In the absence of Hasan, his sister had led the Samajwadi campaign in Kairana.
Pankaj Singh
Pankaj Singh (BJP), son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, has been fielded from Noida against Pankhuri Pathak of Congress and SP’s Sunil Chaudhary.
Mriganka Singh (BJP) from Kairana sea Trailing
Hasan’s rival Mriganka Singh, the eldest of four daughters of the late Hukum Singh, a three-time BJP MP from Kairana. Mriganka and Hasan has beeing facing a challenge from Nahid Hasan’s sister Iqra Chaudhary who have fileded her nomination as an independent candidate. Nahid and Iqra Hasan, on the other hand, are children of former legislators Tabassum Hasan and the late CH Munawwar Hasan.
Sandeep Kumar Singh
Sandeep Kumar Singh, Kalyan Singh’s grandson, has been fielded from BJP against former SP MLA Viresh Yadav from Atrauli assembly seat.
Baby Rani Maurya
Baby Rani Maurya, former Uttarakhand Governor, is contesting from Agra Rural on a BJP ticket against RLD’s Mahesh Kumar Jatav
Swami Prasad Murya
Swami Prasad Murya, UP ex-minister Swami Prasad Maurya who joined Samajwadi Party few days before polling, is facing a stiff challenge in Fazilnagar from BJP’s Surender Singh Kushwaha, who is also a prominent OBC face and the son of sitting BJP MLA Ganga Singh Kushwaha.
Keshav Prasad Maurya (BJP) from Sirathu seat Leading
The BJP has fielded Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu assembly seat while the Samajwadi Party has fielded Anupriya Patel’s sister Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kamerawadi). Sirathu is a high profile assembly constituency in Kaushambi district adjoining Prayagraj.
Shivpal Singh Yadav Leading
Shivpal Singh Yadav, a five time MLA, is contesting from Jaswantnagar assembly seats on the symbol of bicycle. Despite the Modi wave in 2017, the BJP could not bloom the lotus on Jaswantnagar seat. Since 1967, Jaswantnagar constituency has been represented by the Mulayam clan except 1969 and 1980 when Congress had won from here.
Puja Shukla
Pooja Shukla, who came into limelight in 2017 when she tried to stop Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s cavalcade in Lucknow to protest against government policies, is contesting on Samajwadi ticket from Lucknow North seat.
Shukla, one of the yongest candidate in Uttar Pradesh election, is facing BJP’s Neeraj Bora. She had met Akhilesh Yadav after staying 20 days in jail. Following which, she met SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and became the face of Samajwadi Chatra Sabha, the party’s student wing.