LUCKNOW: The seven-phase battle for UP enters endgame on Monday, with both BJP and Samajwadi Party on a similar wicket in terms of their dependence on allies to crack the caste code in several of the 54 constituencies across nine south Purvanchal districts going to polls in the final round.
The stakes are higher as PM Narendra Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, where he inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath corrid-or last December, and SP chi-ef Akhilesh Yadav’s Azamgarh will be voting in this phase. Both Modi and Akhilesh led a charged-up campaign for their parties that culminated in roadshows in the heart of Varanasi.
Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Dharmendra Pradhan, CM Yogi Adityanath and BJP chief JP Nadda campaigned extensively in the region, while SP had Bengal CM and arch BJP baiter Mamata Banerjee showing up for a mega rally of its allies in Varanasi. Congress’s Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi campaigned together at Pindra in Varanasi in support of Ajay Rai, although Varanasi Cantt candidate Rajesh Mishra missed out on a similar poll gig as the party’s UP general secretary couldn’t make it to Jaunpur before the close of campaigning on Saturday.
In 2017, this region witnessed a close contest, with BJP winning 29 out of 54 seats and its allies Apna Dal and SBSP bagging four and three respectively. SBSP is now on the other side, contesting eight seats. SP had won 11 and BSP six in the previous poll.
This time around, SP has tried to expand its reach beyond its traditional vote bank by forging an alliance with Rajbhar-dominated SBSP and the Krishna Patel faction of Apna Dal to win over the large number of Kurmi voters in Mirzapur and its adjoining areas. Apna Dal (S), led by Krishna Patel’s daughter and Union minister of state Anupriya Patel, remains with BJP. It has roped in Nishad Party to woo the Nishad electorate. Besides the Kurmis, Nishads and Rajbhars, the main contenders are battling for the support of other non-Yadav OBCs and backward castes that form pockets of influence across the region. Muslim voters could be the deciding factor in Mau, Ghazipur and Azamgarh.
Seven BJP ministers are in the fray, three of them in Varanasi — Neelkanth Tiwari (South), Ravindra Jaiswal (Cantt) and Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur). Sangita Balwant Bind (Ghazipur Sadar), Girish Yadav (Jaunpur) and Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur) complete the list.
Among former ministers in the fray, SBSP chief OP Rajbhar is in tight contest in Zahoorabad, and Dara Singh Chauhan has moved from Madhuban to Ghosi. SP veteran and former minister Durga Yadav is eying his ninth win from Azamagarh Sadar. The spotlight would also be on Mau Sadar where six-time MLA and muscleman Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas is in the fray against BJP’s Ashok Singh. Ansari is an accused in the murder of Singh’s brother.