The Aligarh Assembly seat, one of the key constituencies in the state, will go to the polls in first phase of Uttar Pradesh elections 2022 on February 10, 2022. As many as 623 candidates are in the fray in the first phase and around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase.

The BJP has fielded sitting MLA Sanjeev Raja’s wife Mukta Raja from the Aligarh constituency. Sanjeev Raja was convicted in a 22-year-old assault case in November last year. Former MLA Zafar Alam is the SP-RLD alliance candidate, while the Congress has fielded former president of AMU Students’ Union Mohd Salman Imtiaz.

Following is the full list of candidates for the Aligarh Assembly seat along with details from their election affidavits as analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR):

Mukta Raja, Bharatiya Janata Party

BJP candidate Mukta Raja is the wife of sitting MLA Sanjeev Raja, who was convicted last November in a 22-year-old case of assaulting a policeman and sentenced to two years in jail. He was granted bail by the court the same day. BJP’s Aligarh district president Rishi Pal Singh has said that since Raja did not get relief from the court in the case, the party decided to field his wife from the seat.

In her affidavit, Mukta Raja has given insurance agent as her profession and has not declared any criminal cases. The 55-year-old is Class 12 pass and holds total assets worth Rs 1.6 crore. He has liabilities worth Rs 47.9 lakh. Her moveable assets are worth Rs 1.2 crore and immovable ones are worth Rs 43.6 lakh. Her self-income is Rs 7.6 lakh and total income is Rs 11.4 lakh.

Zafar Alam, Samajwadi Party

SP candidate Zafar Alam, a former MLA, has mentioned business as profession in his election affidavit, and has not declared any criminal cases. The 76-year-old has mentioned Graduate Profession as education qualification and holds total assets worth Rs 46.4 crore. His liabilities are worth Rs 75.2 lakh. The crorepati candidate owns moveable assets worth Rs 10.1 crore and immoveable assets worth Rs 36.4 crore. His self-income is Rs 2.4 crore and total income is Rs 9.4 crore.

Mohd Salman Imtiaz, Indian National Congress

Congress candidate Mohd Salman Imtiaz is the former president of AMU Students’ Union and has declared 17 criminal cases against himself in his affidavit. The 31-year-old is Post Graduate and has total assets worth Rs 32,594, all moveable, and no liabilities. Imtiaz has declared self-income of Rs 4.7 lakh.

Razia Khan, Bahujan Samaj Party

BSP candidate Razia Khan is a 52-year-old homemaker. She has no criminal cases against her and is Graduate by qualification. Her total assets are worth Rs 84.3 lakh and she has zero liabilities. Her moveable assets are worth Rs 23.3 lakh and immoveable assets are worth Rs 61 lakh. She has declared sel-income of Rs 2.7 lakh and total income of Rs 7 lakh.

Monika Thapar, Aam Aadmi Party

AAP’s Monika Thapar has mentioned tailoring as her profession in her affidavit and declared one criminal case. The 39-year-old is Class 12 pass and holds total assets worth Rs 14.1 lakh, all moveable. She has no liabilities. Her self-income is Rs 5 lakh and total income is Rs 9.9 lakh.

Dileep Kumar, Independent

Dileep Kumar, 39, has mentioned teaching business as profession in his affidavit. Kumar, a Graduate Professional by qualification, has not declared any criminal cases. His total assets are worth Rs 7.4 lakh, all moveable, and liabilities are nil. He has declared self-income of Rs 3.4 lakh.

Renuka Sharma, Independent

Renuka Sharma, 42, is Class 10 pass and declared rental income in her affidavit. She has no criminal cases and owns total assets worth Rs 5.6 lakh, all moveable. She has not declared any liabilities or self-income.

Vinod Kumar, Independent

Vinod Kumar is 39-year-old advocate by profession as per his affidavit. Kumar has no criminal cases against him and mentions Graduate Professional as his qualification. His total assets, all moveable, are worth Rs 7.7 lakh. He has declared self-income of Rs 4.5 lakh and total income of Rs 7.5 lakh.

Ramgopal, Independent

Independent candidate Ramgopal has mentioned business as profession in his affidavit and has not declared any criminal cases. The 43-year-old is Literate and holds total assets worth Rs 34.1 lakh and has liabilities worth Rs 11.5 lakh. His moveable assets are worth Rs 11.1 lakh and immoveable ones are worth Rs 23 lakh. He has declared self-income of Rs 4.6 lakh.

Keshav Dev, Independent

Keshav Dev has declared four criminal cases against himself in his affidavit. He has listed agriculture as his profession and is literate. The 46-year-old owns total assets worth Rs 5.7 lakh, all moveable, and has nil liabilities. He has not declared any self-income.

Campaigning in the constituencies going to vote in the first round of the seven-phase election in the politically crucial state ended on Tuesday evening. The polling will start at 7 am in these constituencies according to the guidelines of the Election Commission to ensure Covid-safe polls. The voting will end at 6 pm.

Ministers whose fate will be decided in the first phase include Shrikant Sharma, Suresh Rana, Sandeep Singh, Kapil Dev Agarwal, Atul Garg and Chowdhury Lakshmi Narain.

The canvassing for the first phase remained confined to the virtual medium due to a ban on road shows and physical rallies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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