Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi  |  Photo Credit: ANI
Chandigarh: Elections for the 117-seat Punjab Assembly as well the third phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls are witnessing multi-cornered contests today. While the BJP led by Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath is in power in UP, Punjab is currently being governed by the Congress under Charanjit Singh Channi.
Elections for the 403-seat UP Assembly are being held in seven phases. Two of these phases have already been concluded. Polling in Punjab will be held from 8 am to 6 pm, while in Uttar Pradesh, it will take place between 7 am and 6 pm. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Punjab
In Punjab, over 2.14 crore voters will decide the fate of 1,304 candidates, with the Congress, AAP, SAD-BSP, BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, a political front of various farmer bodies vying for seats. The ruling Congress which has come under severe attack from Opposition parties on a wide range of topics including the drug menace and corruption is hoping to sway voters on the basis of decisions taken during current CM Channi’s short tenure.
The party faces stiff competition from the Aam Aadmi Party which is looking to wrest control of the state away from Congress. The stakes are also high for the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is contesting the polls in alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) after breaking ties with the BJP in 2020 over the farm laws issue. The BJP meanwhile is fighting the elections as a major partner in hand with the Amarinder Singh-led Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa-led SAD (Sanyukt).
Prominent faces who are in the fray are Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Aam Aadmi Party’s chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann, Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, former CMs Amarinder Singh and Parkash Singh Badal, and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Punjab BJP chief Ashwani Sharma and former Union minister Vijay Sampla are also fighting the elections.
Uttar Pradesh Phase 3
Uttar Pradesh is set to vote for 59 Assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts today including Hathras, Firozabad, Etah, Kasganj, Mainpuri, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Etawah, Auraiya, Kanpur Dehat, Kanpur Nagar, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba. In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won 49 of the 59 seats while the SP had settled for nine. The Congress had got one seat, while the Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank.
As many as 627 candidates are in the fray in this phase including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who is contesting from the Karhal assembly seat. The BJP has fielded Union minister S P Singh Baghel against the SP leader. The SP leader’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav will also have his fate sealed tomorrow as his traditional Jaswantnagar seat goes to the polls.
Prominent faces in the fray in this phase are BJP’s Satish Mahana (Maharajpur in Kanpur) and Ramvir Upadhaya (Sadabad in Hathras) and Louise Khurshid (the wife of senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid) who is contesting on the Congress’ ticket from Farrukhabad Sadar. Former IPS officer Asim Arun is contesting from Kannauj Sadar on the BJP ticket, while Uttar Pradesh minister Ramnaresh Agnihotri is also in the fray in this phase.