Third phase of UP assembly polls: Akhilesh among 627 candidates in fray

Constituencies in the districts of Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, and Mahoba will go to polls in the third phase today.

Hyderabad: The third phase of the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections will see 59 constituencies in 16 districts goes to polls today. The fate of 627 candidates will be decided by more than 2.15 crore voters. The polling will start at 7 am today and will end at 6 pm. Constituencies in the districts of Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur, and Mahoba will go to polls in the third phase today.

Samajwadi Party (SP) Akhilesh Yadav who is contesting from the Karhal Assembly seat is among the key candidates in the fray in the third phase. He will be pitted against BJP candidate and former Union Minister S P Singh Baghel. The seat is considered to be dominated by the Yadav community and the home turf of the Mulayam family. The SP chief's uncle Shivpal Yadav is contesting from the Jaswantnagar constituency.

BJP candidate Satish Mahana is contesting from the Maharajpur constituency in Kanpur, while his party colleague Ramvir Upadhaya has been fielded from the Sadabad seat in Hathras. Congress has fielded senior party leader Salman Khurshid's wife Louise Khurshid the Farrukhabad Sadar constituency. The fate of Uttar Pradesh minister Ramnaresh Agnihotri will also be decided in the third phase. BJP has also fielded former IPS officer Asim Arun from Kannuaj.

Among the poll-bound constituencies today, several used to be the strongholds of the SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) prior to the 2017 Assembly elections. However, in the 2017 Assembly elections, when BJP stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party won 49 of these seats while the SP was only able to get nine seats. The Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank.

The recent show of unity in the Mulayam family when SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav shared the stage with Akhilesh and Shivpal and trio was seen together after five years, seems to have become a cause of concern for the BJP. Apparently, it would be difficult for the saffron party to woo Yadav voters like it did in 2017.

BJP is raising the issues of dynastic politics and law and situation during the SP regime in its campaign. It has also accused Akhilesh of resorting to appeasement politicṣ. BSP is pinning its hopes on the Bundelkhand region to revive its fortunes as Dalits comprise of about 22 per cent of the population there.