The seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election 2022 ended on March 7. Voting began from 7 am to 6 pm in most seats, with Chakia (Chandauli), Robertsganj and Duddhi (Sonbhadra) being the notable exceptions where the voting concluded by 4 pm. According to India’s Election Commission (EC), a voter turnout of 56.77% was observed till 6 pm. A total of 613 candidates contested over 54 seats in this phase. The districts that saw elections in this phase were Azamgarh, Jaunpur, Mau, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) President Om Prakash Rajbhar (Zhoorabad), State tourism minister Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi South), Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur-Varanasi), Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur), Ramashankar Singh Patel (Marihan-Mirzapur) and Girish Yadav (Jaunpur) are some other vital names that contested in this phase.
Dara Singh, who had left the Yogi cabinet earlier, has joined hands with the SP in fighting Ghosi in Mau. Son of gangster-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari, Abbas Ansari (Mau Sardar) and Dhananjay Singh (Malhani-Jaunpur), the JD(U) candidate are also contesting.
Historical trends in the region
A total of 2.06 crore people were eligible to vote in this phase. Historically, these voters have voted for the Samajwadi Party (SP), but the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made some great inroads back in 2017 by winning 29 seats. On the other hand, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won six and 11 went to the SP. The SP undertook some primary campaigning in this region as Mulayam Singh Yadav was seen in Jaunpur to rally for Lucky Yadav, the son of Parasnath Yadav. Parasnath happens to be a long-time friend and ally. Lucky Yadav contested from the Malhani seat. Mulayam had earlier campaigned for his son and party chief Akhilesh Yadav, who is contesting from the seat of Karhal in Mainpuri.
Interesting events
The District Election Officer removed a Central Paramilitary Force Sub-Inspector named Chaman Lala from election duty after receiving a complaint that accused him of forcing polling agents to throw the Voters’ List. He was deployed at the polling booths from 243 to 246 Vidhansabha Cantonment in Varanasi.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav spoke on Indians stuck in war-torn Ukraine amid polling. He questioned the “international recognition” that the BJP “boasts about”. He said, “Don’t know which international recognition they boast about. They failed to evacuate Indians, named evacuation ‘Operation Ganga’ because polls are in Varanasi too.” He further mentioned how he would have appreciated it if the government had simply rescued Indian citizens from Ukraine directly.
The results for these state elections will be announced on March 10.
