Votes in 59 seats of UP today, focus on Lakhimpur, from where farmers ran

Lucknow:
Voting is going on in 59 seats of Uttar Pradesh including capital Lucknow and Lakhimpur Kheri in the fourth phase of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh today. Voting is also being held in five seats of Sonia Gandhi’s stronghold Rae Bareli.

1. seats are stretched Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda and Fatehpur districts.

2. In 2017, the BJP had won 51 seats, four to the Samajwadi Party, two to the Congress and two to Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party. Apna Dal (Sonelal), an ally of BJP, got one seat.

3. The election in Lakhimpur Kheri is being seen as a prestige battle for Union Minister Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish Mishra is accused of murder in connection with the deaths of four farmers during a protest in October.

4. Farmers unhappy with the Centre’s controversial agriculture laws were extremely upset after four of them were crushed by Ashish Mishra’s SUV. The farmers have challenged the bail of Ashish Mishra in the Supreme Court.

5. All 8 seats of Lakhimpur are currently with BJP. Both BJP and SP have fielded their candidates for Lakhimpur City seat. Yogesh Verma of BJP, who won the seat in 2017 elections, will again face Samajwadi Party’s Utkarsh Verma Madhur. Congress has fielded Ravi Shankar Trivedi.

6. Voting will be held in nine assembly seats of the state capital Lucknow today. The keenly-watched contests will include Sarojini Nagar – where former Joint Director of Enforcement Directorate Rajeshwar Singh is in a direct fight against Abhishek Mishra, a former IIM professor and close aide of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.

7. State Law Minister Brijesh Pathak is taking on Samajwadi Party candidate and two-time councilor Surendra Singh Gandhi in Lucknow Cantonment. Minister of State Ashutosh Tandon is in the fray from Lucknow East against Samajwadi Party candidate Anurag Bhadauria.

8. In the high-profile Rae Bareli Sadar – part of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s parliamentary seat – the party’s sitting MLA Aditi Singh has joined the BJP and is up against Manish Chauhan of the Congress. Aditi Singh is the daughter of late five-time MLA Akhilesh Singh. Samajwadi Party has fielded RP Yadav.

9. To motivate women voters, the state police have set up 137 “pink booths”, manned by women officers. Lucknow’s Christ Church College has announced that it will give 10 marks to students whose parents vote.

10. Voting for the remaining three phases of the seven phases of UP elections will be held on February 27, March 3 and March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.