Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections: Phase 1 | Seats, incumbents, challengers and key battles

Voting is now underway for 58 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly and will continue till 6 pm later today. The first phase signals the commencement of assembly elections in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Uttar Pradesh has over 15 crore eligible voters who elect 403 MLAs to the state assembly.

Over 2.28 crore voters will decide the fate of 623 candidates, including 73 women candidates, in the first phase of UP polls.

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Nine of the 58 seats up for polls in the first phase are reserved assembly constituencies.

In the fray are nine ministers of the incumbent BJP government – Suresh Rana (Thana Bhawan), Kapil Dev Aggarwal (Muzaffar Nagar), Dinesh Khateek (Hastinapur), Atul Garg (Ghaziabad), Anil Sharma (Shikarpur), Sandeep Singh (Atrauli), Shrikant Sharma (Mathura) and GS Dharmesh (Agra Cantt).

2017 UP polls

Out of the 58 seats up for grabs in the first phase of the UP polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had bagged 53 in the previous assembly election in 2017.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), could only stake a claim on two seats each, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) was reduced to one seat – Chhaprauli in Baghpat district.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had emerged victorious in all 11 Lok Sabha seats in western UP.

Polling officials at an election material distribution centre in Noida on Wednesday | PTI

This time around, Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a multi-polar assembly election with the ruling BJP-led coalition up against the SP-led alliance, BSP, Congress and AAP, among others.

As part of the first phase, votes are being cast in 11 districts – Shamli, Muzaffar Nagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.

UP Assembly elections 2022: Phase 1 | Seats, incumbents, challengers and key battles

Shamli district

Shamli was demarcated as a district separate from Muzaffar Nagar in September 2011 by the then chief minister Mayawati. This district has three assembly seats – Kairana, Thana Bhawan and Shamli.

Kairana is perhaps one of the most talked-about electoral battles this election season. The seat is headed for a rematch with sitting MLA Nahid Hasan (34) of the SP vs BJP’s Mriganka Singh (62). Also in the fray are Rajendra Singh Upadhyay (57) of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Haji Akhlak (50) of the Congress.

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Hasan, a two-time MLA, had filed his nomination from Kairana a day before his arrest on January 15 in connection with a 2021 case. With him in prison, his campaign was managed by his sister Iqra (27), a post-graduate from School of Oriental and African studies in the UK.

#_ #22__ #UttarPradeshElection2022 #iqra_hasan #NahidHasan pic.twitter.com/zHmERg3iGn

— Iqra Munawwar Hasan (@Iqra_Munawwar_) February 9, 2022

Hasan’s rival Mriganka Singh is the eldest of four daughters of the late Hukum Singh, a three-time BJP MP from Kairana. Nahid and Iqra Hasan, on the other hand, are children of former legislators Tabassum Hasan and the late CH Munawwar Hasan.

Mriganka Singh on the campaign trail | Facebook @Mriganka Singh

Nahid Hasan had defeated Mriganka Singh of the BJP from Kairana in 2017 by a margin of over 21,000 votes.

In the same Shamli district, Thana Bhawan seat is equally important for the BJP. Its sitting legislator – Suresh Rana (51), a two-time MLA, is the sugarcane minister in the Adityanath government.

Another sitting MLA, Tejendra Nirwal (56) of the BJP is contesting to retain Shamli, the seat he first won in 2017.

Muzaffar Nagar

UP’s Muzaffar Nagar district has six assembly seats – Budhana, Charthawal, Purqazi (SC), Muzaffar Nagar, Khatauli, and Meerapur. All six were won by the BJP in 2017.

In Charthawal, BJP’s Sapna Kashyap (48) has been pitted against Pankaj Kumar Malik (43) of the SP-RLD combine. Charthawal seat has been vacant since Vijay Kumar Kashyap, sitting MLA and husband of the BJP candidate, succumbed to Covid-19 in May of 2021.

Muzaffar Nagar assembly constituency is also set to witness a high-voltage electoral battle.

Ground Report | India Today’s Mausami Singh tracks the mood of the voters in #Muzaffarnagar#ReporterDiary #UttarPradeshElections #Politics #Muzaffarnagar (@mausamii2u) pic.twitter.com/FD0FoI0wZs

— IndiaToday (@IndiaToday) February 9, 2022

Kapil Dev Aggarwal (55), a junior minister in the Adityanath government, is contesting to retain the seat he first won in a bypoll in 2016 and then again in 2017. Aggarwal is up against RLD’s Saurabh Swaroop (51), son of former UP minister late Chitranjan Swaroop.

In Khatauli, former MLA Kartar Singh Bhadana (67) is contesting on a BSP ticket against BJP’s Vikram Saini (53). The sitting MLA, Saini made headlines when he faced protests in his own constituency while on the campaign trail last month.

READ: Akhilesh-Jayant’s bonhomie campaign: Pull young crowd, take Yogi head-on

All bets are off in Meerapur where BJP has to retain the seat it won in 2017 by a paper-thin margin of 193 votes. Avtar Singh Bhadana, who won Meerapur seat for the BJP in 2017, is now with the RLD.

Prashant Chaudhary (57), the BJP’s candidate, is up against BSP’s Md Salim (29) and SP-RLD’s Chandan Chauhan (33) in Meerapur.

Meerut

UP’s Meerut district has seven assembly seats – Siwalkhas, Sardhana, Hastinapur (SC), Kithore, Meerut Cantt, Meerut and Meerut South.

Siwalkhas is among the assembly seats where the BJP has benched its sitting MLAs.

READ: Who will win Uttar Pradesh election? Clue lies in seats reserved for Dalits

Jitendra Pal Singh won from Siwalkhas on a BJP ticket in 2017. This time around, the party has fielded Maninder Pal (52) in his place. The BJP candidate is up against Ghulam Md (69) of the RLD, who represented Siwalkhas from 2012 to 2017.

In Sardhana, sitting BJP MLA Sangeet Som (42) has to retain the seat he first won in 2012 and then again in 2017. Som had defeated Atul Pradhan of the SP by a margin of over 21,000 votes in the previous assembly polls.

UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya with Sangeet Som on Feb 2, 2022 | Twitter @SangeetSomMLA

The electoral battle in Hastinapur, a reserved seat, made headlines after Congress decided to field actor/model-turned-politician Archana Gautam from this seat.

Gautam (28), a former Miss Bikini India, is up against Dinesh Khateek (45), the sitting BJP MLA who was first elected to the assembly in 2017 and served as a minister in the Adityanath government. The incumbent has also been pitted against SP’s Yogesh Verma (53), a former BSP leader.

Archana Gautam on the campaign trail with Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Sachin Pilot on Feb 8, 2022 | Twitter @archanagautamm

Meerut Cantt is another seat where the pitch is set for a showdown. Satya Prakash Agarwal of the BJP had won this seat in 2017.

This time around, BJP’s Amit Agarwal (67) is contesting against Manisha Ahlawat (47) of RLD in Meerut Cantt.

Agarwal recently made headlines after he declared total assets worth Rs 148.8 crore in his poll affidavit, compared to his contender Manisha Ahlawat, who declared assets worth Rs 18.8 crore.

Another key poll battle to look out for is the one playing out in Meerut assembly constituency where sitting MLA Rafiq Ansari (59) of the Samajwadi Party is up against Kamal Dutt Sharma (48) of the BJP. Here, the BJP decided to field Sharma in the place of former three-time MLA Laxmikant Vajpayee.

Baghpat

UP’s Baghpat assembly constituency has three assembly seats – Chhaprauli, Baraut and Baghpat. In 2017, the BJP won two of the three seats, while RLD’s Sahender Singh Ramala emerged victorious in Chhaprauli.

Campaigning for the first phase is over. Look forward to peaceful polling tomorrow & the campaign for the upcoming phases. Till then you can enjoy this video!! pic.twitter.com/Hj13SfTzcz

— Jayant Singh (@jayantrld) February 9, 2022

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary lost from Baghpat to sitting MP Satyapal Singh of the BJP.

This is one of the reasons why all eyes are now on the RLD and whether it can wield its influence in Baghpat district to gain a favourable outcome in the three seats.

Ghaziabad

UP’s Ghaziabad district has five assembly seats – Loni, Muradnagar, Sahibabad, Ghaziabad and Modi Nagar. BJP had won all five in 2017 and has re-imposed its faith in its sitting MLAs.

A polling station in Ghaziabad | Twitter @ceoup

In Loni, sitting BJP MLA Nand Kishor Gurjar (46) has been pitted against Madan Bhaiya (62) of the RLD. Nand Kishor Gurjar had defeated BSP’s Zakir Ali and RLD’s Madan Bhaiya in 2017.

READ: Muslim consolidation, counter-polarisation, Owaisi factor: The battle for minority-influenced seats in UP

In Ghaziabad, the BJP is betting on Atul Garg (64), a junior minister in the Adityanath government. The son of Ghaziabad’s first mayor, Garg was first elected to the UP Legislative Assembly in 2017. He has been pitted against BSP’s Krishna Kumar Shukla (49), who joined hands with Bahujan Samaj Party after he was denied a ticket by the BJP. Shukla was earlier the UP BJP’s vice president in charge of western Uttar Pradesh.

Hapur

UP’s Hapur district has three assembly seats – Dhaulana, Hapur (SC) and Garhmukteshwar.

Aslam Choudhary (54) had won Dhaulana in 2017 on a BSP ticket. The sitting MLA is now the candidate of the SP-RLD alliance from this seat. He has been pitted against BSP’s Basid Pradhan (45) and Dharmesh Tomar (55) of the BJP.

Hapur is also witnessing an interesting electoral fight with four-time Congress MLA Gajraj Singh (68) now contesting from this seat as an SP-RLD candidate. He is up against sitting MLA Vijay Pal (50) of the BJP.

Gajraj Singh on the campaign trail | Facebook @Gajraj Singh Hapur

In Garhmukteshwar, the BJP has decided to field Harendra Singh (54) instead of its sitting MLA Kamal Singh Malik who won the seat in 2017. The Congress has fielded Abha Chaudhary (42), the wife of UP Congress general secretary Sachin Chaudhary, from this seat. BSP’s Madan Chauhan (61), a three-time former MLA, is also in the fray here.

Gautam Buddha Nagar

UP’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district has three key assembly seats – Noida, Dadri and Jewar. The BJP had won these seats in 2017 and has decided to field its sitting MLAs from all three seats.

Pankaj Singh, the BJP MLA from Noida, is the son of Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Pankaj Singh won this assembly seat by a margin of over 1 lakh votes over his nearest rival in 2017.

10

, – #BJP4UP pic.twitter.com/w7S6AoPwwk

— Pankaj Singh (@PankajSinghBJP) February 8, 2022

This time around, Singh is up against his old rival Sunil Choudhary (43) of the SP and Congress party’s Pankhuri Pathak (29), a law graduate and former student union leader.

Jewar has been in the spotlight since Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for an international airport here in November of last year.

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In Jewar, BJP’s Dhirendra Singh (55) has been pitted against Avtar Singh Bhadana (64), who had contested and won the 2017 election from Meerapur on a BJP ticket. Bhadana is a four-time Lok Sabha MP representing Meerut in UP and Faridabad in Haryana.

Bulandshahr

UP’s Bulandshahr district has seven assembly seats – Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, Syana, Anupshahr, Debai, Shikarpur and Khurja (SC). The BJP had won all seven seats in 2017.

The BJP has fielded new candidates in the place of sitting MLAs from Sikandrabad, Bulandshahr, Debai and Khurja.

READ: Not a spent force: Mayawati comes out of her cocoon to proclaim she is in the reckoning

Bimla Singh Solanki of the BJP, who won from Sikandrabad in 2017, has been benched. In her place, the party has fielded Lakshmi Raj Singh (39).

Meanwhile, Pradeep Kumar Chaudhary (51) is the BJP candidate in Bulandshahr. He is facing RLD’s Haji Yunus (55) and Sushil Chaudhary (50) of the Congress. The seat was won for the BJP in 2017 by the late Virendra Singh Sirohi who breathed his last in March 2020.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary during a roadshow in Bulandshahr on Feb 3, 2022 | PTI

In Debai, BJP’s sitting MLA Dr Anita Lodhi Rajput was benched. The party has instead fielded Chandrapal Singh (58) from this seat.

The BJP also dropped its sitting MLA Vijendra Singh in Khurja. Minakshi Singh (32), a former state president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, has now been pitted against SP’s Banshi Singh (58) and Vinod Kumar Jatav (43) of the BSP from here.

Also worth watching out for is the electoral fight in Anupshahr where the SP-RLD combine has decided to extend support to a joint candidate – KK Sharma (59) of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The NCP had contested 30 seats in the 2017 UP polls but could not lay claim to any.

Aligarh

UP’s Aligarh district has seven assembly seats – Khair (SC), Barauli, Atrauli, Chharra, Koil, Aligarh and Iglas (SC). The BJP had won all seven seats in 2017.

This time around, the party has fielded new candidates in the place of its sitting MLAs from Barauli and Aligarh.

READ: Cattle menace, old pension scheme, unemployment: Issues that could be game-changer in UP polls

In Barauli, the BJP has dropped sitting MLA Dalveer Singh to field MLC Jayveer Singh (57) against BSP’s Narendra Kumar Sharma (37) and Gaurang Dev (30) of the Congress.

Similarly, sitting BJP MLA from Aligarh – Sanjeev Raja – has been benched. His wife Mukta Raja (55) is the BJP candidate from Aligarh. Raja is up against SP’s Zafar Alam (76), BSP’s Razia Khan (52) and Monika Thapar (39) of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Sanjeev Raja, Mukta Raja with UP CM Yogi Adityanath on Feb 6, 2022 | Twitter @sanjeevrajabjp

In Atrauli, sitting BJP MLA Sandeep Singh (30) is contesting to retain the seat he first won in 2017. A sitting minister in the Adityanath government, Sandeep Singh is the grandson of the late Kalyan Singh – former UP chief minister who passed away in August of last year due to multi-organ failure, aged 89.

Sandeep Singh has been pitted against SP’s Viresh Yadav (56) and Dr Omveer Singh (54) of the BSP.

In Iglas, BJP’s sitting MLA Rajkumar Sahyogi (56) is up against BSP’s Sushil Kumar (37) and Birpal Singh (37) of the RLD. Sahyogi had won the seat in a bypoll in 2019 after BJP’s Rajveer Diler, the sitting MLA, was elected to the Lok Sabha in the 2019 general election.

Mathura

UP’s Mathura district has five assembly seats – Chhata, Mant, Goverdhan, Mathura and Baldev (SC). In 2017, the BJP had won four out of the five seats.

The BJP has fielded three of its four sitting MLAs, with the exception of Karinda Singh, the sitting MLA from Goverdhan who has been benched.

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In Goverdhan, the BJP has fielded Meghshyam (56) against RLD’s Preetam Singh (47) and BSP’s Rajkumar Rawat (58).

Mant is among the most talked-about assembly seats this election. Here, BSP’s Shyam Sundar Sharma (72), an eight-time MLA, is up against Dr Sanjay Lathar (50) of the SP-RLD combine, BJP’s Rajesh Choudhary (55) and Suman Chaudhary (37) of the Congress.

Dr Sanjay Lathar with SP chief Akhilesh Yadva on Feb 5, 2021 | Facebook @Sanjay Lathar

Mathura is also set for a high-pitched battle with sitting BJP MLA Shrikant Sharma (51), a minister in the Adityanath government, contesting to retain the seat he first won in 2017. Shrikant Sharma is up against BSP’s SK Sharma (61), SP’s Devendra Agrawal (53) and Pradeep Mathur (66) of the Congress.

Shrikant Sharma had trounced his nearest rival, Pradeep Mathur, by a margin of over one lakh votes in 2017.

Agra

UP’s Agra district has nine assembly seats – Etmadpur, Agra Cantt (SC), Agra South, Agra North, Agra Rural (SC), Fatehpur Sikri, Kheragarh, Fatehabad, and Bah. In 2017, the BJP had won all nine seats.

In Etmadpur, the BJP has fielded former BSP legislator Dr Dharampal Singh (58) in the place of its sitting MLA Ram Pratap Singh. The BJP candidate is up against SP’s Dr Virendra Singh Chauhan (54) and BSP’s Praval Pratap Singh (44). The BSP candidate from Etmadpur was BJP’s zila panchayat chairperson before he decided to join the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Similarly, sitting BJP MLA Chaudhary Udaybhan Singh has been dropped in Fatehpur Sikri to make way for Choudhary Babulal (69). Here, BJP’s Choudhary Babulal is contesting against BSP’s Mukesh Kumar (34) and RLD’s Brijesh Kumar (47)

READ: Farmers’ stir, possible Jat-Muslim axis, scars of 2013 riots: The political quandary called Western UP

Bhagwan Singh Kushwaha (53) is the BJP candidate in Kheragarh instead of sitting BJP MLA Mahesh Kumar Goyal. Kushwaha is up against BSP’s Gangadhar Kushwah (57) and Rohtan (35) of the RLD.

Jitendra Verma, the sitting BJP MLA from Fatehabad, has also been benched to make way for Chhotelal Verma (68). The BJP candidate has been pitted against SP’s Roopali Dixit (34), BSP’s Shailendra Singh (41) and Hotam Singh Nishad (33) of the Congress.

The most interesting poll battle in Agra district, however, is playing out in Agra Rural (SC) assembly constituency where the BJP has fielded former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya.

Baby Rani Maurya addressing a poll rally in UP on Jan 4, 2022 | Twitter @babyranimaurya

Baby Rani Maurya was the first Dalit woman to serve as the Mayor of Agra. She had unsuccessfully contested the UP Assembly polls in 2007 from Etmadpur and is currently a national vice-president of the BJP. Maurya served as the Governor of Uttarakhand from 2018 to 2021.

Maurya (65), a veteran Dalit leader, has been fielded against BSP’s Kiran Prabha Kesari (41), RLD’s Mahesh Kumar (52), AAP’s Arun Kumar Katheria (37) and Upendra Singh (51) of the Congress from Agra Rural.