LUCKNOW: The fate of several BJP heavyweights, including many ministers, will be decided in the first phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 2022 on Thursday (Feb 10, 2022). Polling will be held on 58 seats spread in 11 districts of Western Uttar Pradesh.
The electoral fate of nine ministers in the Yogi Adityanath-led government will be decided by voters. Prominent among them are -Srikant Sharma from Mathura, Atul Garg from Ghaziabad, Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan, Kapildev Agarwal from Muzaffar Nagar and Sandeep Singh from Atrauli. Other ministers whose fate will be decided are Laxminarayan Chaudhary from Chhata, Anil Sharma from Shikarpur, GS Dharmesh from Agra Cantt. and Dinesh Khatik from Hastinapur.
Other prominent names are former Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya from Agra Rural, Uttar Pradesh BJP vice president Pankaj Singh from Noida and Mriganka Singh from Kairana.
The districts where the elections will be held on Feb 10 are - Shamli, Hapur, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Muzaffarnagar, Meerut, Baghpat, Ghaziabad, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Mathura and Agra.
The canvassing for the first phase remained confined to the virtual medium due to a ban on road shows and physical rallies in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The first phase will cover the Jat-dominated belt of western UP from where farmers had participated actively in the stir against the Centre's three agri laws in the national capital.
As many as 623 candidates are in the fray in the first phase and around 2.27 crore people are eligible to vote in this phase. In 2017, the BJP bagged 53 of the 58 seats, while the Samajwadi Party and the BSP had got two seats each. One seat had gone to the Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Ministers contesting in the first phase of Uttar Pradesh polls 2022
Suresh Rana from Thana Bhawan
(Cabinet Minister,Sugarcane Development, Sugar Mills)
Rana won Thana Bhavan Seat in 2012 and 2017. Rana is known as a firebrand Hindu leader and was also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots. The Yogi Adityanath government has withdrawn cases against him.
In 2012, he had won the seat with a razor thin margin of 265 votes. In 2017, his margin increased to over 16,000 votes.
Shrikant Sharma from Mathura
(Cabinet Minister, Energy, Additional Sources Of Energy)
In 2017, Sharma had defeated Pradeep Mathur of Congress with a margin of over 1.43 lakh votes. Mathur is a three-term MLA from this seat and has been working overtime to regain his seat this time. Yogi Adityanath made it clear at a rally in Mathura that just as a grand temple of Shri Ram is being built in Ayodhya and Lord Vishwanath in Kashi, the same will happen in Mathura-Vrindavan.
Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary from Chhata
(Cabinet Minister- Dairy Development, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries)
He first won the election in 1996 on a Congress ricket and then went on to become minister in the Kalyan Singh government after the split in the Congress. In 2007, he won on a BSP and then in 2017, he won on a BJP ticket. It remains to be seen whether he can break his own record and win the seat twice from the same party.
Kapil Dev Agarwal from Muzaffarnagar
(Minister Of State (Independent Charge) Vocational Education, Skill Development)
The seat has been the epicentre of farmers' agitation. Muzaffarnagar riots issue had been raked up by political parties in campaigning. Dev on election in 2016 by polls from Muzaffarnagar.
Atul Garg from Ghaziabad
(State Minister Medical and Health, Family Welfare, Mother and Child Welfare)
Atul Garg had defeated the BSP candidate with a margin of over 70,000 votes in 2017 and now faces the challenge of retaining his seat.
Sandeep Singh from Atrauli
(State Minister Finance, Technical Education, Medical Education)
Sandeep singh, who is also the grandson of late Kalyan Singh, is seeking re-election from Atrauli in Aligarh, which is considered a stronghold of the Kalyan Singh family. Kalyan Singh had won from this seat eleven times, which is a record in itself.
Dr GS Dharmesh from Agra Cantonement
(State Minister Food Processing, Planning, Program Implementation)
Dr Dharmesh runs his clinic on the Agra-Gwalior highway. Agra Cantt seat is in the reserved category.
Anil Sharma from Shikarpur
(State Minister Forest, Environment, Zoological Garden)
The seat is considered to be a BJP bastion and the party has won from here in the past five elections. This is Anil Sharma's second election.
Dinesh Khatik from Hastinapur
(Flood control portfolio)
Dinesh Khatik was appointed minister four months ago in September 2021. He represents the Hastinapur constituency in the UP Assembly. Khatik comes from an RSS background and owns brick kilns in the area.
