UP Assembly elections’ first phase ended on February 10, with six stages remaining. Speculation has already started over which party scored the most out of the 58 seats that were up for election during this phase. The rural voting percentage this time exceeded the urban one, says activist Deep Sharma. Based on previous election statistics, urban voters had always understood the need to vote better than rural voters. Therefore, the urban vote used to be higher than the rural vote.
The rural vote percentage was much higher this time than the urban vote percentage. According to India Today, there were polls on nine Assembly seats. Out of these, 3 seats received less than 60% of the vote. 60.23 % of all 9 seats were filled. The Agra Cantonment seat had the least voting percentage while the highest was at the Etmadpur seat. In contrast to Agra Cantonment, Etmadpur is predominantly rural.
A reduced voting percentage of up to 11 percent combined with issue-free elections have created a complex political equation. India Today has reported that BJP MLA Yogendra Upadhyay has been fighting a tough contest against BSP candidate Ravi Bharadwaj on the Agra South seat. The Samajwadi Party’s Kunwar Chand Vakeel was also facing a hard opponent in BJP MLA GS Dharmesh from Agra Cantonment. Purushottam Khandelwal was the lackluster candidate in the Agra North race, facing SP’s Gyanendra Goyal.
Former Uttarakhand governor Babyrani Maurya was running on a BJP ticket against a strong RLD opponent, Mahesh Jatav. This opponent appears to have gained much support among the farmers and Jats in Agra Rural. In Etmadpur, two-time MLA Dharmpal Singh was facing Rakesh Baghel of the BSP. Brajesh Chahar, the SP/RLD candidate on Fatehpur Sikri, faced off against former MP Babulal.
Priyanka Gandhi gave a lot of personal attention to the Kheragarh seat, where two-time MLA Bhagwan Singh Kushwah faced off against Congress candidate Ramnath Sikarwar. However, Gangadhar Kushwah, the BSP candidate, might also prove to be a wildcard. The most intense speculation has been generated regarding the Fatehabad seat, where three-time MLA Chhoteylal Verma is running against a local muscleman’s daughter and SP/RLD candidate Rupali Dixit.
BJP’s Pakshalika Singh and SP’s Madhusudan Sharma competed hard for the Bah seat and Madhusudan Sharma could win with a large margin if Brahmin voters did not get divided. Approximately a month before the results of the elections are announced, political parties have already shifted their focus away from Agra, but locals will spend this month in suspense and anticipation as they wait to see who wins in Agra.
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