New Delhi: The voting for the sixth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is on Saturday. Top leaders from all the major political parties are going to hold multiple rallies and roadshows at various places in eastern Uttar Pradesh as the Election Commission’s deadline to end campaign for this phase kicks in on Thursday evening.
Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav is going to address six rallies in Ballia, while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah will hold roadshow in Gorakhpur. Akhilesh’s wife and MP Dimple Yadav will address three rallies in Azamgarh.
Here are some of the key facts and latest developments from Uttar Pradesh assembly elections ahead of the voting for 6th phase on Saturday:
■ 3.00pm: Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and other BJP leaders join in a roadshow in Gorakhpur. (TV reports)
■ 2.45pm: Rahul Gandhi in Maharajganj also targets PM Modi. He asked, “What has Modiji delivered in his 2.5 years term as PM? He promised to create 2 crore jobs. Has he done that?” (Dainik Jagran)
■ 2.30pm: Out of the 635 candidates, 160 (25%) are crorepatis. (ADR)
■ 2.00pm: The top three richest candidates contesting in this phase of the election belong to BSP. They are – the richest candidate Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali contesting from BSP ticket in Mubarakpur (Azamgarh district) has declared total assets of over Rs118 crore. Second, Vinayshankar contesting from Chillupar (Gorakhpur district) has declared total assets of over Rs67 crores. Third richest, Aijaj Ahmad contesting from Nautanwa (Maharajganj) has declared assets of over Rs52 crore. (ADR)
■ 1.45pm: Akhilesh targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first rally in Ballia and said “our PM makes a lot of noise but delivers little.” (Dainik Jagran)
■ 1.30pm: Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases – 20(41%) out of 49 candidates from BSP, 16 (36%) out of 45 candidates from BJP, 5 (14%) out of 36 candidates from RLD, 12(30%) out of 40 candidates from SP, 3(20%) out of 15 candidates from CPI, 2 (20%) out of 10 candidates from INC and 21(12%) out of 175 Independent candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. (ADR)
■ 1.00pm: Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases – 18(40%) out of 45 candidates from BJP, 24 (49%) out of 49 candidates from BSP, 5 (14%) out of 36 candidates from Rashtriya Lok Dal(RLD), 15(38%) out of 40 candidates from SP, 4 (27%) out of 15 candidates from Communist party of India (CPI).
3(30%) out of 10 candidates from Indian National Congress(INC), and 22(13%) out of 175 Independent candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits. (ADR)
■ 12.30pm: Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi to hold three rallies, one in Pindra and two in Maharajganj.
■ 12.00pm: Findings of the Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of all 635 candidates from 78 political parties, including six national parties, five state parties, 67 unrecognized parties and 175 independent candidates, who are contesting in the sixth phase:
— Out of 635 candidates analyzed, 126 (20%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
— 109 (17%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, crimes against women etc.
— Nine candidates have declared cases related to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-302).
— 23 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (Indian Penal Code Section-307).
— Two candidates have declared cases like assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty (Indian Penal Code Section-354) and rape (IPC Section-376).
— Candidates with cases related to kidnapping: One candidate has declared case related to kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person (IPC Section-365).
■ 11.30am: Campaigning is at its peak in Uttar Pradesh but Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav has stepped out only for two public rallies this elections, a stark contrast to the over 300 rallies he addressed in the 2012 assembly polls. (PTI)
The 77-year-old SP patron campaigned just for his younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav, who is contesting on a SP ticket from Lucknow Cantonment, and also for his brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is contesting from the party’s bastion of Jaswantnagar in Etawah. (PTI)
In the 2012 UP Assembly polls, Mulayam had addressed more than 300 rallies. In the 2014 Lok Sabha general elections, he limited his appearances to 18 rallies, one in each of the 18 divisions of the state, citing health issues. (PTI)
■ 11.00am: The Election Commission deadline for campaigning for the sixth phase will end today at 5pm.
■ 10.30am: Earlier on Wednesday, the Election Commission proposed putting a cap on expenditure by candidates in certain legislative council polls. However, the government has said political parties and the seven states with legislative councils should be consulted before amending laws to put in place a ceiling on expenditure.
■ Also, addressing an election rally in Maharajganj on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a dig at economists who have criticized the government’s demonetisation move. Modi said, “Hard work is more powerful than Harvard.”
■ Here are some of the key facts related to the sixth phase of assembly elections:
— The districts going to polls in the sixth phase are Mau, Maharajganj, Kushinagar, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Azamgarh and Ballia. Azamgarh has 10 assembly seats, of which SP had won nine in 2012, but this time Mulayam has not addressed a single meeting in his parliamentary constituency.
— Prominent candidates in this phase include Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya from Padrauna (Kushinagar), former BJP state president Surya Pratap Shahi from Pathardeva (Deoria), Shyam Bahadur Yadav (SP), son of former Governor Ram Naresh Yadav from Fulpur Pawai (Azamgarh), SP turncoats Ambika Chowhdury and Narai Rai, who are contesting on BSP tickets from Fefna (Ballia) and Ballia Sadar.
— In the 2012 assembly polls, of the 49 seats, 27 were won by the SP, nine by BSP, seven by BJP, four by Congress and two by others. There will be 17,926 polling booths in this phase.
— The highest number of candidates are in Gorakhpur (23) and the lowest of seven candidates are in Mohammadabad Gohna seat in Mau district.
— Around 1.72 crore voters, including 94.60 lakh male and 77.84 lakh female voters, are eligible to decide the fate of 635 candidates.
