bundelkhand: Uttar Pradesh Polls: Campaign for 59 seats in ‘SP stronghold’ and Bundelkhand ends
The battle has now shifted to Yadav land and Bundelkhand after the first two rounds in Jat and Muslim dominated regions. In 2017, the BJP had given a jolt to the Samajwadi Party in its stronghold by winning 49 out of 59 seats while the SP had to contend with merely nine seats. In 2012, the SP had won 37 seats in the region. The BJP won 30 out of 40 seats in what was considered to be a stronghold of the SP.
The BJP is working hard to retain its position in the region where it created history in 2017. The party fielded all its top guns for campaigning, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.
From the SP, party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav campaigned for his son Akhilesh Yadav in Karhal and brother Shivpal Yadav in Jaswantnagar on Thursday. The SP hopes that unlike last time, when there was a battle going on in the family, the unity in the family will now send out a positive message among voters. The joint yatra of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Shivpal and Akhilesh was an attempt to send out the message of unity to the people on the ground.
On the last day of campaigning, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath addressed a gathering in Karhal. SP president Akhilesh Yadav is contesting assembly election for the first time and the BJP has fielded union minister SP Singh Baghel against him.
BSP chief Mayawati focused her campaign on 19 seats of Bundelkhand considering the earlier track record of the party. In 2017, the BJP won all 19 seats of the Bundelkhand region and the BSP was number two on most of the seats. This time, Mayawati put in efforts through rallies in Auraiya, Orai and Banda to consolidate her vote bank.
With this phase, voting will conclude in 172 out of 403 constituencies in UP.
