goa: Voting for Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh Phase-2 today. Here are the key contests and other highlights

Single-phase elections in Goa and Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh second-round polls, will be held on Monday, taking forward this year’s electoral process that began on February 10. While 632 candidates are in the fray for 70 seats in Uttarakhand, 301 aspirants are contesting for 40 seats in Goa. UP’s 55 second-round constituencies are spread across nine districts of Amroha, Bareilly, Badaun, Bijnor, Moradabad, Rampur, Saharanpur, Sambhal and Shahjahanpur. Goa is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with AAP and TMC putting up candidates. Hopeful of making some gains in the north too, AAP has fielded candidates on all 70 seats in Uttarakhand, which traditionally has seen bipolar contests between BJP and Congress. In UP, as many as 586 candidates are in the fray. In the 2017 polls, BJP had won 38 seats while SP had bagged 15 in an alliance with Congress (which got two)

Goa:

Key Contests

• Panaji: Utpal Manohar Parrikar, son of BJP stalwart Manohar Parrikar, is fighting as an independent candidate. His rivals are BJP’s Atanasio Monserrate (ex-Congress) and INC’s Elvis Gomes
• SANQUELIM: CM Pramod Sawant (BJP) seeking re-election. He faces INC’s Dharmesh Saglani, MGP’s Mahadev Khandekar & AAP’s Manojkumar Ghadi
• ST CRUZ: AAP’s CM face Amit Palekar vs BJP’s Antonio Caetano Fernandes vs INC’s Rodolfo Louis Fernandes
• BENAULIM: Sitting MLA Churchill Alemao (ex-NCP) is now contesting on TMC ticket this time. He faces AAP’s Venzy Viegas & INC’s Antonio Feliciano Dias (Tony)

Uttarakhand

Key Contests

• KHATIMA: CM Pushkar Singh Dhami (BJP) vs Bhuwan Chandra Kapri (INC)
• LALKUWA: Cong leader and former UP CM Harish Rawat vs Dr Mohan Singh Bisht (BJP)
• GANGOTRI: AAP CM face Ajay Kothiyal vs BJP’s Suresh Singh Chauhan vs INC’s Vijaypal Singh Sajwan
• HARDWAR: State BJP party president Madan Kaushik vs INC’s Satpal Brahmchar
• SRINAGAR: State minister Dhan Singh Rawat (BJP) is contesting from Srinagar against state Cong president Ganesh Godiyal

Uttar Pradesh

Key Contests

• RAMPUR: Mohammed Azam Khan (SP) vs INC’s Nawab Kazim Ali Khan vs BJP’s Akash Saxena
• SUAR: Abdullah A Khan (SP), Azam Khan’s son, vs Haidar Ali Khan (Apna Dal-S), grandson of former MP Noor Bano
• NAKUR: Dr DS Saini (BJP minister), who switched to SP, is fighting BJP’s Mukesh
• Choudhary and INC’s Randheer Singh
• SHAHJAHANPUR: State finmin SK Khanna (BJP) vs SP’s Tanveer Khan vs INC’s Poonam
• BAREILLY CANTT: Former mayor of Bareilly, Supriya Aron, now fighting on SP ticket (after leaving Cong) takes on BJP’s Sanjeev Agarwal
• BEHAT: Sitting MLA Naresh (elected on Cong ticket) now with BJP; he faces SP’s UA Khan and INC’s Poonam Kamboj
• BILASPUR: State Jal Shakti minister BS Aulakh (BJP) vs INC’s Sanjay Kapoor vs BSP’s Ramautar Kashyap