Fate of 5 Yogi ministers hangs in balance in 6th phase of UP polls

Five ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government will face acid test in the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls to be held on March 3.

 

 

The ten districts going to the polls in the sixth phase are Gorakhpur, Ambedkarnagar, Ballia, Balrampur, Basti, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar and Siddharthnagar.

The prominent faces in the fray in this phase are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi, Basic Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi, Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh, state Ministers Shree Ram Chauhan and Jai Prakash Nishad.

A total of 2,14,62,816 electorate -- 1,14,63,113 males, 99,98,383 females and 1,320 third genders -- are expected to exercise their right to franchise to seal the fate of 676 candidates in 57 seats of which 11 are reserved for Scheduled Caste.

 

In the 2017 Assembly polls, BJP won 46 seats and two by its allies Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). However, this time the SP has stitched an alliance with the SBSP.

Of the 57 seats, 37 are under red alert (polling areas where more than three candidates have criminal cases registered against them).

Despite only two phases of polling left, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is holding back-to-back rallies in Purvanchal. His rallies are scheduled from February 27 to March 4.

Once again BJP's Satish Chandra Dwivedi will be contesting from Siddharthnagar's Itwa Assembly constituency. The seat will witness a two-pronged contest between SP's Mata Prasad Pandey and Dwivedi.

In Bansi, Jai Pratap Singh will be contesting against SP's Monu Dubey. Congress candidate from Bansi, Kiran Shukla and BSP candidate Radhe Shyam Shukla are also in the fray from here.

From Gorakhpur's Khajani Assembly seat (Reserved), Minister Shree Ram Chuahan is in the fray. Chauhan is a lawmaker from Dhanghata in Sant Kabir Nagar district.

Khajani will witness a three-corner contest, though the rivals are terming Chauhan as an outsider.

From Deoria's Rudrapur seat, Jai Prakash Nishad is a BJP candidate, pitted against SP's Ram Bhual Nishad and BSP's Suresh Tiwari.

Disappointed over not getting a ticket from the saffron party, Tiwari, a BJP MLA from Barhaj, had joined the BSP.

From Pathardeva, Surya Pratap Shahi has locked horns with SP's Brahma Shankar Tripathi.

The sixth phase has 27 per cent tainted candidates, 38 per cent crorepatis while 182 candidates have criminal cases registered against them.

BJP candidate Vinay Shankar Tiwari from Gorakhpur's Chillupar tops the list of crorepatis.

Rakesh Pandey, SP candidate from Ambedkarnagar's Jalalpur, has assets of over Rs 63 crore while BSP's Umashankar Singh from Balia's Rasra has declared assets of Rs 54 crore.

The candidates with least asset is Deepak Shrivastav of the AAP who has declared assets of Rs 500 only. He is contesting from Mahrajganj's Siswa seat.

Shimon Prakash, an independent candidate from Ballia's Belthara Road (SC) seat, has declared assets of Rs 6,600.

Narsingh Pal, AAP candidate from Deoria's Rudrapur seat, has declared assets of over Rs 10,000.

Uttar Pradesh Election Watch Association for Democratic Reforms has analysed the affidavits of 670 candidates.

Among the tained candidates, 23 per cent have 151 cases of serious nature registered against them.

BSP candidate from Sahjanwa, Sudhir Singh has the maximum number of cases, 26, registered against him, followed by SBSP candidate from Kushinagar's Khadda seat is Ashok Chauhan, who has 19 cases registered against him. Azad Samaj Party candidate from Gorapkhpur, Chandrashekhar has 16 cases against him.

 

Eight candidates have crime against women cases registered against them, while two have rape cases, murder charges against eight, attempt to murder against 23.

Party-wise, 40 of the 48 SP candidates, 23 of the 52 BJP candidates, 22 of the 56 Congress candidates, 22 of the 57 BSP candidates and seven of the 51 AAP candidates are tainted.

--IANS

ptk/svn/skp/