UP Elections 2017: polling for final phase underway

The election has been staggered over seven phases in Uttar Pradesh, a poor and agrarian state home to 220 million people, and the final phase includes the ancient Hindu city of Varanasi, Modi’s home constituency.

In Manipur, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s bastion Dhoubal district will go to polls on Wednesday. BJP’s top polarisation agent and Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath was another top campaigner for the party, as he had been the most sought after leader in the western and eastern parts of the state.

While a win in Goa would enhance the BJP’s credibility as a party that returns to power, a victory in Manipur would be another success story in the northeast.

The dominant theme in Poorvanchal is poverty. “In UP, the PM spoke of kabristaan and shamshan”, said Jha, referring to the rally addressed by the Prime Minister in Fatehpur on February 19.

Over 1.41 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the seventh and last phase of the assembly elections, including 76.87 lakh men and 64.99 lakh women.

Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Uma Bharti and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi have said on record that BJP could have given tickets to the community. “Modi ji is probably more keen on saving his honour in his own parliamentary constituency”. Ghazipur Parliamentarian Manoj Sinha is Minister of State for Railways. “This was their last attempt to defeat us, but it seems like they will stand defeated”, Ghanshyam Tiwari said. “We will get at least 36 seats”.

Rajendra Chowdhary, aSenior cabinet minister and Akhilesh Yadav aide, says the region has always stood by the Samajwadi Party. In some seats, the Bahujan Samaj Party also justifiably fancies its chances. While the BJP had mostly campaigned in the northern regions of the state, that are predominantly Hindu dominated, the party can not afford to completely lose the votes of the community.

PM Modi’s road show was a clear message that the PM was out on the streets fighting Akhilesh Yadav.

Going by the ground reports from these states, especially from Uttar Pradesh, and the crowd at his rallies prove that he is still the most popular politician in the country.

The district is bound by Mirzapur to the northwest, Chandauli to the north, Kaimur and Rohtas districts of Bihar to the northeast, Garhwa district of Jharkhand to the east, Koriya and Surguja districts of Chhattisgarh to the south, and Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh to the west.

Varanasi has dominated the maximum limelight. The party, however, did not touch upon the issues of casinos and the mining industry, a key issue upon which it won the 2012 Assembly elections in the state.