Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: From Rae Bareli to Unnao, Here Are The Five Key Contests in The Fourth Phase

60 seats in 9 districts will be up for grabs in the fourth phase in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 as the state gears up for the voting on Wednesday, February 23. Election campaigns of all parties will end at 5 pm on Monday. In the first three phases, voters chose their candidates in 172 seats in the 403-seat UP Assembly.

This phase is politically crucial since it includes the seats of Lucknow and Rae Bareli, which are considered to be the stronghold of the Gandhi family.

Fourth phase is also crucial since the Lakhimpur Kheri violence of October 3 last year is likely to have a significant impact on the UP polls, especially in the Terai region where the incident occurred. The Terai region goes to polls in the fourth phase. Ashish Misra, son of Union minister Ajay Misra Teni, is accused of mowing down farmers with a car during the Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Key Battles:

Rae Bareli Sadar

The Raebareli Sadar assembly seat was once synonymous with strongman and former five-time Congress MLA Akhilesh Singh, whose legacy was carried forward in 2017 by his daughter Aditi, who came back to India after studying abroad, and won the elections by a huge margin.

SP’s Ram Pratap Yadav, who had been in jail for almost two years earlier, is being viewed as a contender against BJP's Aditi Singh from Raebareli’s Sadar. Congress has fielded Manish Singh Chauhan whose family has had a long association with Gandhis. Aditi Singh will be banking on the legacy of her father and the work done by her in the last five years of her tenure as an MLA as the BJP was never in a stronger position in this seat.

Lucknow Cantt

Considered to be among the safest seats for BJP in UP, the party had many contenders for this seat including - Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi's son Mayank Joshi, Aparna Yadav, Suresh Tiwari in the upcoming polls but the party showed its faith in Brijesh Pathak Who is pitted against Raju Gandhi of the Samajwadi Party.

Sarojini Nagar:

The Bhartiya Janata Party has fielded former Joint Director of ED, retired officer Rajeshwar Singh against Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Abhishek Mishra better known as ‘Professor Saab’.

The Sarojini Nagar assembly seat was won by BJP’s Swati Singh in the 2017 UP Assembly Elections by defeating SP’s Anurag Yadav. The seat went to the BJP for the first time in 2017; previously it was won by SP’s Sharda Pratap Shukla.

The Congress has fielded Rudra Daman Singh from this seat who is a local and is said to have good hold on Thakur community voters. This may pose a challenge for both BJP and SP in the upcoming elections. Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded Mohd Jalessh Khan who is expected to attract Muslim voters from Sarojini Nagar constituency.

Hardoi:

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections, the competition in Hardoi Sadar Vidhan Sabha seat is very tough. Naresh Agarwal, who has worked in several political parties, is currently in the BJP and his son Nitin Agarwal is contesting from the Hardoi Sadar assembly seat. However, the caste equations of Hardoi Sadar are such that the tension between BJP and Naresh Agarwal has increased. Voting for the Hardoi assembly seat of Uttar Pradesh will be held in the fourth phase on February 23.

Naresh Agarwal's reputation is at stake in Hardoi Sadar assembly seat. Naresh Agarwal's son and BJP's candidate Nitin Agarwal is facing a tough contest from Anil Verma of Samajwadi Party (SP) here. In this general assembly seat, SP has made the contest very interesting by making Anil Verma, who comes from Pasi community, its candidate. On the other hand, BSP has made Shobhit Pathak its candidate from Hardoi Sadar assembly seat. Anil Verma, who is contesting on the ticket of Samajwadi Party, is also seen full of confidence on the basis of caste mathematics and his old work.

Unnao:

Unnao grabbed headlines after the gang rape incident, in which former BJP MLA from Bangarmau, Kuldeep Singh Sengar was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI special court.   Kuldeep Singh Sengar Sentenced to Life Imprisonment by Delhi’s Tis Hazari Court in Unnao Rape Case

The Congress has fielded the mother of the rape survivor in the Unnao gangrape case from Unnao Sadar seat

This seat currently belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Pankaj Gupta who won in last assembly election of 2017, defeating Samajwadi Party candidate Manisha Deepak by a margin of 46,072 votes.

While the BJP has decided to repeat its winning candidate in these elections, SP has fielded a new face - Abhinav Kumar - from what used to be its stronghold before 2017.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 21, 2022 04:09 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).