Keen contests on cards in 3rd phase of UP polls

Akhilesh Tripathi

Lucknow: The third phase of polling for the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh slated for February 20 will involve 59 seats in 16 districts. Several prominent faces will be testing their electoral fortunes in the phase. However, the outcome of the Hathras seat will be keenly awaited. The small town shot into global limelight following the gang-rape of a Dalit girl in 2020 whose body was burnt in the darkness of night at the behest of the UP administration.

The Hathras rape case provoked outrage across the country. The BJP is simply not able to get the Hathras scandal off its back. The polling is scheduled to be held in Hathras, Kanpur city, Kanpur Dehat, Kannuaj, Kasganj, Ferozabad, Etah, Mainpri, Farrukhabad, Auraiya, Itawah, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Hamirpur and Mahoba. The Bharatiya Janata Party has high stakes in the region where it secured 59 seat in 2017 and is facing stiff opposition from the rival candidates on key issues.

The SP has taken up the Hathras rape and murder issue in a big way and mobilising voters of the region against “highhandedness” of the Yogi Adityanath government. A similar issue also stares into the eyes of the BJP in Kasganj where a youth Altaf died in police custody on November 21.

Instead of prosecuting the police officials involved in the murder of the youth, the Yogi government had tried to defend them and the officials had tried to turn it into a suicide case. But acting on the petition of Chandmian, Altaf's father, the Allahabad High Court recently ordered a second autopsy after exhumation of the body.

This is being interpreted as a serious setback to the Yogi administration. The alleged killing of Amar Dubey in a police encounter too is back into the headlines as his wife Khushi Dubey has been booked in a case and placed in detention for the last two years.

Khushi’s sister Neha Tiwari has been fielded by the Congress party from Kalyanpur seat. Amar Dubey was related to underworld don Vikas Dubey in a separate incident. The two killings aroused grave suspicion against the Yogi administration going against only antisocial elements from nonThakur communities and especially targeting those from the Brahmin community.

Khushi’s case is being argued by BSP Rajya Sabha MP and advocate Satish Chandra Mishra in the SC. The SP and BJP are also wrangling over the political links of Kannauj perfume tycoon Piyush Jain from whose premises the CBI recovered cash and valuables to the tune of Rs 284 crore.

While the SP has alleged that the businessman was a BJP affiliate, the BJP has linked him with the SP. Karhal constituency from where Akhilesh Prasad Yadav is seeking his first election to the UP Assembly too will be going to polls on Feb 20. He is facing Union Minister SP Singh Baghel as the BJP rival.

Curiously, it was Akhilesh’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav who had mentored Baghel into politics. A video has gone viral in the region that shows his interaction with some voters going vituperative. Baghel has not offered any explanation for the same in public.

Meanwhile, a case of assault on Baghel has been booked by the police. No one has been arrested in the case. In the neighbouring constituency of Jaswant Nagar, Akhilesh’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav is fighting a stiff battle against the BJP. The Maharajpur seat is witnessing a contest between seven-time BJP MLA Satish Mahana and Avatar Singh Gill.

The Congress has fielded Youth Congress leader Kanishk Pandey from the constituency. Gill is a fresh face and has a clean image. He is drawing good crowds but Mahana is a doughty warrior. The BSP drew a blank during the 2017 elections from the region. But ground support has undergone several changes and it is difficult to predict how the electorate will respond to issues of unemployment, inflation and price rise.