Election campaign for the third phase of polling in 69 Assembly seats across 12 districts of central Uttar Pradesh ended on February 19. Polling on Sunday will be held between 7 am and 5 pm.
The third phase will be a litmus test for the Samajwadi Party leadership and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as his prestige is at stake in the core area. The challenge for Akhilesh Yadav is daunting since his uncle Shivpal Yadav has rebelled and many sitting MlAs after being denied tickets were in the contest representing other parties.
Poll issues like law and order and development are the main poll agenda of all parties but other local issues too are being raked up by them.
Central para-military forces have reached thse districts from other places and they carried out flag marches to instil confidence among the voters. All liquor shops have been closed for the next 48 hours.
The third phase will be important for all parties, particularly for the ruling SP, as they had won 55 of the total 69 seats in 2012 elections followed by 6 by the BSP, five by BJP and two Congress candidates. A lone seat was also won by an Independent.
In five districts of Etawah, Auraiya, Barabanki, Mainpuri and Kannauj which encompass 19 seats, the SP had won all seats denying the political rivals to open account in the 2012 elections. This time, retaining its hold in the area will be anuphill task for the SP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the campaigning for the BJP by addressing a total of six meetings at Kannauj, Hardoi and Barabanki on Thursday. Other BJP leaders and Union ministers also campaigned.
BSP chief Mayawati, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and SP president Akhilesh Yadav also campaigned. Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi are also addressing two meetings everyday while Akhilesh Yadav addressed six to eight meetings every day. He was also being assisted by his wife Dimple in the campaign.
On Friday - the last day of campaign, Akhilesh addressed meetings in Barabanki and lucknow.
There are 821 candidates in the fray in the third phase of polling in which around 14 per cent have criminal cases and 31 per cent are crorepatis (multi-millionaires).
The highest number of 21 candidates is in the fray are from Etawah seat, while the minimumj number of three candidates are from Haidergarh seat of Barabanki. The highest number of VIP seats in UP polls is being witnessed in the third phase. Almost all the nine seats in lucknow are witnessing a triangular fight with close relatives of the Chief Minister contesting in two seats.
All eyes would be on Jaswantnagar seat of Etawah where Shivpal Yadav is contesting to retain it for a fifth time. In lucknow (Cantonment) Aparna Yadav, (CM’s sister-in-law) and Anurag Yadav (CM’s cousin) are contesting from Sarojninagar seat in lucknow. Anurag is pitted against BJP’s Swati Singh and Aparna is contesting against seasoned politician Rita Bahuguna Joshi of the BJP.
The districts going to polls in the third phase are trouble-torn areas for the EC like Etawah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Farrukahabad and lucknow have the record of rigging and other irregularities in the past.
A total of 2.41-crore electorate are expected to exercise their franchise in the third phase of polling out of which 1.31-crore are male and 1.10 crore and 1,026 are third gender. There would be 25,603 polling booths in this phase.
The districts going to polls in the third phase are Farrukahbad, Hardoi, Kannauj, Mainpuri, Etawah, Auriyya, Kanpur Dehat, and Kanpur city, Unnao, lucknow, Barabanki and Sitapur.