UP panchayat polls Phase 2: Spotlight on Mulayam Singh Yadav's belt, PM constituency

LUCKNOW: As the four-phased panchayat poll heads to the second round on Monday, the spotlight will be on the Yadav belt comprising districts of Etawah and Mainpuri, the home turf and parliamentary constituency of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav; Azamgarh, the parliamentary seat of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav; Kannauj and Badaun, the former parliamentary constituencies of Akhilesh’s wife Dimple Yadav and cousin Dharmendra Yadav.
The second phase is also significant as it includes Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of PM Narendra Modi and state capital Lucknow.
The second phase, being held amid a steep surge in Covid cases, will witness a keen contest in 20 districts, including those in the politically volatile west UP region — Amroha, Baghpat, Bijnor and Muzzaffarnagar. These districts, experts say, record heavy polling and could potentially tip the overall voting percentage.
The other districts which would go to poll include Etah, Gonda, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Chitrakoot, Pratapgarh, Maharajganj, Lakhimpur Kheri, Lalitpur and Sultanpur. In all, there will be 11,483 candidates in fray for 787 zila panchayats wards, 85,231 candidates for 19,653 kshetra panchayat wards and 1,21,908 candidates in 14,897 gram panchayats. At least 3.23 crore voters will exercise their franchise in 52,620 polling booths.
A keen contest brews in Mainpuri where Mulayam’s niece and Samajwadi Party leader Sandhya Yadav switched to the saffron camp and is contesting from Ghiror ward number 18 as a BJP candidate. Sandhya, elder sister of Dharmendra Yadav, was the sitting zila panchayat chairman of Mainpuri.
She was reportedly peeved with a section of SP leadership, which orchestrated a no-confidence motion against her in 2017. Since then she has been hobnobbing with BJP ranks. Mainpuri has 30 zila panchayat wards for which 367 candidates are in fray.
Election Commission records show Azamgarh, comprising a substantial Muslim population, has the highest number of 1,858 gram panchayats, 84 zila panchayat wards and 2,104 kshetra panchayat wards. The district has over 37 lakh voters who will be polling in 6229 polling stations.
After Azamgarh it is Lakhimpur Kheri with 27 lakh voters, followed by Gonda (26.6 lakh) and Pratapgarh (26.59 lakh). Lakhimpur Kheri has 72 zila panchayat wards and 1,165 gram panchayat, while Gonda has 65 zila panchayat wards and 1205 gram panchayats.
Panchayat elections would also feel the grassroots pulse in PM Modi’s constituency of Varanasi, which has 40 zila panchayat wards, 1,007 kshetra panchayat and 694 gram panchayats. The district would see more than 17.5 lakh voters exercising their franchise in 2,592 polling stations.
Likewise, Lucknow will see an electoral battle in 25 zila panchayat wards, 628 kshetra panchayat wards and 494 gram panchayats. The district has 10.6 lakh voters, who will be casting their votes in 1,775 polling stations. Gautam Buddh Nagar in the national capital region, has the lowest number of rural local bodies – five zila panchayat wards, 119 kshetra panchayats and only 88 gram panchayats. The district comprises a little over 2.08 lakh voters only.