With rain and dust storm giving some respite to the senior leaders and film stars promoting their candidates before, the campaigning for the third round ended on Tuesday in Uttar Pradesh.
For the Samajwadi Party — who had their prestige at stake to save their bastion — veteran actress Jaya Bachchan was there to ensure the defeat of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s one-time close lieutenant, Amar Singh in Fatehpur Sikri. However, Singh also left no stone unturned to add star-studded celebration in his campaigning bringing in Boney Kapoor, Sri Devi and Zeenat Aman, along with Ameesha Patel, Mahima Chowdhary and his closest colleague Jaya Prada, who left Samajwadi Party with him.
The glamour quotient has been deeply felt by Jat leader Jayant Chaudhary, pitted against Dreamgirl Hema Malini fighting on BJP’s ticket.
Besides BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, seeking votes for Hema Malini in Mathura, she also brought in both her actor daughters for a roadshow. For Jayant also, Ameesha Patel, and film star-turned-politician, Raj Babbar, who is also a sitting MP from Ferozabad, campaigned to counter the Bollywood attraction.
Besides the film stars, senior leaders like Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati, Ajit Singh, and other leaders of their parties participated in a hectic campaign for a dozen seats before it ended on Tuesday. The polling in this phase would be held on 24 April.
The fate of prominent leaders which would be sealed in this phase are — Mulayam Singh Yadav, his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav’s son Akshay Yadav, Ajit Singh’s son Jayant Chaudhary, Kalyan Singh’s son Rajveer, Union Minister Salman Khursheed, MP from Akbarpur, Rajaram Pal, Swami Prasad Maurya’s daughter Sanghamitra Maurya, Ramveer Upadhayay’s wife Seema Upadhyay, Amar Singh, Hema Malini etc. The seat where polling would take place included Mathura, Fatehpur Sikri, Ferozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Farrukabad, Kannauj, Akbarpur, along with four reserved seats of Agra, Hardoi, Hathras, and Etawah.