Decks ready for phase-IV polls in 53 UP Assembly seats

Lucknow: The fourth phase polling in Uttar Pradesh will be held tomorrow in 53 Assembly constituencies spread over 12 districts, including the backward Bundelkhand region and the Nehru-Gandhi pocket borough of Rae Bareli.

Assembly segments in Congress President Sonia Gandhi’s Rae Bareli Lok Sabha constituency will be among the seats where the electoral exercise will take place.

However, in a first since 1998, Gandhi gave campaigning a miss in her constituency.

Other districts going to polls in this phase are Pratapgarh, Kaushambi, Allahabad, Jalaun, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Mahoba, Banda, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot and Fatehpur.

Backward and water-scarce Bundelkhand region also figures in this phase.

The fate of 680 candidates will be decided by 1.84 crore voters including 84 lakh women and 1,032 of third gender.

The maximum number of 26 candidates are in Allahabad North, while only six candidates are in fray in Khaga (Fatehpur), Manjhanpur (Kaushambi) and Kunda (Pratapgarh).

In 2012 polls, out of the 53 seats in this phase, Samajwadi Party had won 24, BJP 5, Bahujan Samaj Party 15, Congress 6 and ‘others’ 3.

Prominent contestants include sitting MLA Aradhana Mishra from Rampur Khas (Pratapgarh), the daughter of Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, and Independent MLA and minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya, who is again contesting from his traditional Kunda (Pratapgarh) seat.

In Rae Bareli, Aditi Singh is contesting on Congress ticket, BSP turncoat Swami Prasad Maurya’s son Utkarsh Maurya is in fray from Unchahar seat, while Leader of Opposition Gaya Charan Dinkar is contesting from Naraini (Banda) seat.

Senior SP leader Reoti Raman Singh’s son Ujjwal Raman Singh is in the race from Karchana (Allahabad) seat.