Lucknow, February 28: 57 seats in 10 districts will be up for grabs in the sixth phase in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 as the state gears up for the voting on Thursday, March 3. Election campaigns of all parties will end at 5 pm on Wednesday.

The ten district’s going to polls in sixth phase are Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Ambedkar Nagar, Deoria and Ballia.

The prominent faces in the fray in this phase are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, state Ministers Shree Ram Chauhan and Jai Prakash Nishad.

Here Are The Key Battles in The Sixth Phase

Gorakhpur:

Yogi Adityanath is fighting his first assembly election after being the MP of the area for two decades. Subhavati Shukla, a homemaker and the widow of late BJP leader Upendra Dutt Shukla is contesting on a BJP ticket. Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan is also in the fray but has hardly any presence in Gorakhpur.

Contesting his first assembly election from his home turf in Gorakhpur makes it an easier battle for Yogi Adityanath. Staying put in Gorakhpur constituency for his election also makes Yogi Adityanath freer to campaign for the party in other parts of the state.  Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: Yogi Adityanath to Contest From Gorakhpur City Seat, Confirms BJP

Ballia:

Ballia, the last district of the eastern end of UP, has a lot of importance in the politics of the state. In the sixth phase, elections are held here on March 3. Everyone's eyes are on the urban seat i.e. Ballia Nagar. In the recent past, it has been seen that the winner of this seat has also got the status of a minister in the state. Last time, Anand Swaroop Shukla, who became a minister after winning the election on BJP ticket on this seat, got ticket from Bairia instead of Ballia. At the same time, Dayashankar Singh is in the electoral fray on a BJP ticket. On the SP ticket, former minister Narad Rai is in the electoral fray.  Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: A Look Back at The Polling, Alliances And Results of 2017 Election Ahead of Vidhan Sabha Polls

This time the equation of this seat has changed as compared to last time. In the 2017 assembly elections, Narad Rai was in the fray on a BSP ticket. Now he is back in the electoral fray from his old party Samajwadi Party. Anand Swaroop Shukla won with huge votes in the last election but his constituency has changed and from this seat, UP minister Swati Singh's husband Dayashankar Singh is in the fray on a BJP ticket. This time the main contest on this seat is expected to be between BJP and SP.

Rasara:

Rasra assembly seat falls in Ballia district under Ghosi parliamentary constituency. Babban Rajbhar has been an MP from the BSP. BJP has made him its candidate this time. Earlier, in the 2017 assembly elections, Umashankar Singh of BSP had won the Rasra seat by a huge margin. BJP's Ram Iqbal Singh was at number two and the margin of victory was more than 33 thousand. SP was in third place. This time too, the BSP has expressed confidence in sitting MLA Umashankar Singh.

BSP candidates won all the four elections from 2002 to 2017.

Pathardeva

Bharatiya Janata Party's Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi and former Samajwadi Party minister Brahma Shankar Tripathi have been old rivals. Before the formation of the Pathardeva Assembly, Surya Pratap Shahi and Brahma Shankar Tripathi used to challenge each other in the election fray in the Kasaya Assembly. So far, former SP minister Brahma Shankar Tripathi has defeated Surya Pratap Shahi 4 times. Whereas Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has defeated Brahma Shankar Tripathi thrice.

Bansi:

Bansi assembly seat comes in Siddharthnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Jai Pratap Singh of BJP is currently the MLA from Bansi Assembly Constituency. This time too, Jai Pratap Singh is in the electoral fray to score a hat-trick of victory. Jai Pratap Singh is also a cabinet minister in the Yogi government. He is known in his area as Raja Saheb. Jai Pratap Singh has been MLA for 7 times till now. Became MLA for 5 consecutive terms from 1989 to 2002. However, in 2007 he suffered a defeat. This time Jai Pratap Singh from BJP, Radheshyam Pandey from BSP, Naveen alias Monu Dubey from SP, and Kiran Shukla from Congress are in the fray for Bansi assembly seat.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2022 02:20 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).