Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: From Akhilesh Yadav to SP Singh Baghel, Here is The List of Five Key Candidates in Phase 3 of UP Polls

The third phase of the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is scheduled to be held on February 20 on 59 seats in 16 districts. In the Yadav-dominated area, the Bharatiya Janata Party is once again trying to repeat the charisma of the year 2017. The BJP had captured 49 of the 59 seats in the last elections held in 2017. At the same time, the Samajwadi Party learning from its mistakes during the last elections, has decided to enter the electoral fray with full force this time. In the year 2017, the tussle between Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav had created a split-like situation in the Yadav vote bank as well. This time an attempt has been made to bridge those mistakes.

Ahead of the third phase of the UP election on February 20, decades of political legacy, prestige, and issues of political survival are at stake

Akhilesh Yadav will be contesting the Assembly elections for the first time from the Karhal Assembly constituency which falls under the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency. Karhal is a Samajwadi bastion and Mulayam Singh Yadav represents the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency in the Lok Sabha. Karhal has over 1.44 lakh Yadav voters and is considered 'safe' for the Samajwadi leadership. Karhal is where the SP patriarch and Akhilesh Yadav’s father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, did his schooling and later went on to become a teacher. The SP is banking on its legacy and the formidable percentage of the Yadav voters to cross a victory margin of over one lakh votes.

BJP MP from Agra and Minister of State in Modi government, SP Singh Baghel comes from Braj region and is contesting against Akhilesh from the Karhal seat. He comes from a backward class, but he is an MP from a reserved seat. Satyapal Singh Baghel i.e. Prof. SP Singh Baghel is a native of Bhatpura in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh, but has lived in Etawah. Baghel has been changing his land of work and there is a lot of controversy about his caste. In such a situation, became MLA for the first time from Jalesar seat of Firozabad.   Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Navjot Singh Sidhu To Take On Bikram Singh Majithia In Amritsar East; Here Are Key Electoral Battles To Watch Out For In Punjab Vidhan Sabha Polls

SP Baghel, who was posted as a sub-inspector in the Uttar Pradesh Police, joined Mulayam Singh Yadav's security in 1989 after he became the Chief Minister. After this, on the strength of his fearlessness, hard work and honesty, he also won the heart of Mulayam Singh Yadav. Influenced by SP Baghel, Mulayam Singh Yadav fielded him as the candidate of Samajwadi Party from Jalesar seat and he became MLA for the first time in 1998 and was also a minister in Mulayam Singh government.

IPS Asim Arun who is contesting on a BJP ticket is the son of Shriram Arun who was also the Director General of Uttar Pradesh Police. His mother Shashi Arun was also a well-known writer and social worker. He did his early education from St. Francis School. After this, he studied B.Sc from Sensitivity College, Delhi.

Asim Arun is a 1994 batch IPS officer. After joining the Indian Police Service, he was posted in many districts. He served as Superintendent of Police and Deputy Inspector General of Police in Tehri Garhwal, Uttarakhand to Balrampur, Hathras, Siddharth Nagar, Aligarh, Gorakhpur and Agra. After this he went abroad in study relief for a few days. After that he took charge of ATS, Uttar Pradesh. He was also the IG of Varanasi Zone. After this he was also made IG of ATS.

Asim Arun was also involved in the security of the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He has also headed the Close Protection Team (CPG) in SPG.

Asim Arun led the encounter operation of ISIS terrorist Saifullah. Saifullah was a resident of Kanpur.  Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: From Charanjit Singh Channi to Bhagwant Mann, Here Are Seven Key Candidates For The Polls

Vishambar Prasad Nishad is the Samajwadi Party candidate from Ayah Shah. He was also elected to the Eleventh Lok Sabha on a BSP ticket from Fatehpur Lok Sabha seat. Nishad, who was an MLA from the Tindwari Legislative Assembly from the Samajwadi Party, is a Rajya Sabha MP for the second time as well as the General Secretary of the Samajwadi Party for the fourth time.

In the Mulayam Singh Yadav cabinet, the Minister of State for Revenue, Minister of State for Livestock and Fisheries, besides having independent charge, has also been the Minister of Geology, Mining for the third time in the Mulayam cabinet. Vishambar Prasad Kashyap, Bind, is also considered a strong leader of the fishermen community and Nishad fraternity.

Brajesh Pathak is a powerful face in the politics of Uttar Pradesh. The BJP has fielded state law minister Brajesh Pathak from Lucknow Cantt, the same seat that Aparna Yadav wanted to contest. Brajesh Pathak, who is considered to be a big Brahmin face, is a strong leader in UP BJP as well as the Yogi Government cabinet minister, but his political journey has not been so easy. He has faced many ups and downs in this political journey. Brajesh Pathak, once considered a big Brahmin face of BSP, has traveled from student leader to cabinet minister. So at the same time, this BJP minister had fought the first assembly election of his life on a Congress ticket, in which he had to face defeat.

Brajesh Pathak joined the BJP on 22 August 2016, just before the 2017 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2017 assembly elections, BJP fielded him from the Lucknow Central assembly seat. He defeated Samajwadi Party's strongman and cabinet minister Ravidas Mehrotra by a margin of 5094 votes in this election and he reached the assembly for the first time. After the formation of the BJP government, he was made the Law Minister.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 16, 2022 03:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).