UP polls sixth phase: Fate of CM Yogi, several ministers to be sealed today

Fate of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh assembly and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary, former minister Swami Prasad Maurya, State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, several state ministers among 676 candidates will be sealed today as polling will be held at 57 seats spread across 10 districts in the sixth phase of state Assembly elections.

Of the total 57, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dominated the seats in this belt in the last assembly elections in 2017. BJP won 46 seats while Apna Dal won one seat. Samajwadi Party (SP) won only two seats, while Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won 5 seats. Congress and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) won 1 seat respectively.

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 seats which are going to polls are Katehari, Tanda, Alapur (SC), Jalalpur, Akbarpur, Tulsipur, Gainsari, Utraula, Balrampur (SC), Shohratgarh, Kapilvastu (SC), Bansi, Itwa, Domariyaganj, Harraiya, Kaptanganj, Rudhauli, Basti Sadar, Mahadewa (SC), Menhdawal, Khalilabad, Dhanghata (SC), Pharenda, Nautanwa, Siswa, Maharajganj (SC), Paniyra, Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural, Sahajanwa, Khajani (SC), Chauri-Chaura, Bansgaon (SC), Chillupar, Khadda, Padrauna, Tamkuhi Raj, Fazilnagar, Kushinagar, Hata, Ramkola (SC), Rudrapur, Pathardeva, Rampur Karkhana, Bhatpar Rani, Salempur (SC), Barhaj, Belthara Road, Rasra, Sikandarpur, Phephna, Ballia Nagar, Bansdih and Bairiya.

A total of 2,14,62,816 voters including 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. The maximum numbers of candidates are in Tulsipur, Gorakhpur Rural and Padrauna and the least are in Salempur.

The prominent faces in the fray in this phase are Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath (Gorakhpur Urban), Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi (Pathardeva), Education Minister Satish Chandra Dwivedi (Itwa), Health Minister Jai Pratap Singh (Bansi), state Ministers Shree Ram Chauhan (Khajani) and Jai Prakash Nishad (Rudrapur).

The Samajwadi Party (SP) has fielded the wife of late Upendra Dutt Shukla, a former BJP leader, against Adityanath.

State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu is contesting from Tamkuhi Raj constituency in Kushinagar district, Swami Prasad Maurya, who had left the BJP to join the SP weeks ahead of the polls is a candidate from Fazilnagar in Kushinagar district, and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly and senior Samajwadi Party leader Ram Govind Chaudhary is in the fray from Bansdih from Ballia district.

The campaigning for the sixth phase of polling came to an end on Tuesday evening.

( With inputs from ANI )