As Uttar Pradesh is going to vote for the last and seventh phase of Assembly polls on Monday, the direct fight is between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) for continuing its dominance in Varanasi and Azamgarh.
While the BJP hopes to continue its dominance in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home constituency Varanasi, SP has left no stone unturned to win its stronghold constituency Azamgarh.
Of the 54 remaining assembly constituencies across nine districts, which are going to polls in this phase, the BJP had won 29 seats in the 2017 assembly elections, and seven by its allies, while the SP bagged 11 seats and six were won by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Three seats were won by Congress and five by other smaller parties.
With Varanasi being the home constituency of PM Modi, BJP has exceptional influence in the district and were able to secure win all the eight assembly constituencies in the district in the 2017 elections namely Pindra, Ajagara, Shivpur, Rohaniya, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt, and Sevapur.
On the other hand, the Azamgarh district dominated by Yadavs and Muslims have traditionally been an SP stronghold and the party managed to bag 5 of 10 seats in 2017 in the district. Azamgarh was the biggest challenge for BJP in the 2017 election as it won only one seat.
BJP has fielded Akhilesh Mishra against SP's Durga Prasad Yadav in Azamgarh. Akhilesh Yadav's Azamgarh has been held by Durga Prasad Yadav since 1985.
While in Varanasi South, BJP has fielded state minister Neelkanth Tiwari against SP's Kishan Dixit. Dixit is the Mahant of Mahaamrtyunjay temple. Locals say that the two candidates hail from the Brahmin caste, pointing to a close contest.
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Two other ministers from the Yogi Adityanath government have been fielded from other various seats, namely Anil Rajbhar in Shivpur and Ravindra Jaiswal in Varanasi North.
Apart from Varanasi and Azamgarh, Mau Sadar assembly constituency will also be the interesting aspects in this phase as it will see gangster Mukhtar Ansari's son Abbas Ansari contesting from this seat on a Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) ticket against BJP's Ashok Singh, and BSP's Bheem Rajbhar.
A total of 54 Assembly seats across nine districts including Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra, will go to polls on March 7.
The constituencies that go to polls are Atraulia, Gopalpur, Sagadi, Mubarakpur, Azamgarh, Nizamabad, Phulpur-Powai, Deedarganj, Lalganj (SC), Mehnagar (SC), Madhuban, Ghosi, Muhammadabad-Gohna (SC),Mau, Badlapur, Shahganj, Ghazipur, Jangipur, Zahurabad, Mohammedabad, Zamania, Mughalsarai, Sakaldiha, Saidaraja, Chakia (SC), Pindra, Ajgara (SC), Shivpur, Rohaniya, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantonment, Sevapuri, Bhadohi, Gyanpur, Aurai (SC), Chanbe (SC), Mirzapur, Majhawan, Chunar, Madihan, Ghorawal, Robertsganj, Obra (ST) and Duddhi (ST). Of these, 11 seats are reserved for scheduled castes and 2 for scheduled tribes.
As many as 2.06 crore eligible voters will seal the fate of 613 candidates contesting for 54 seats.
The counting of votes will take place on March 10.