Campaigning ends for seventh phase of UP polls, 613 candidates in fray on 54 assembly seats

By Aashique Hussain
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], March 5 (ANI): The campaign for the seventh and final phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls concluded on Saturday marking an end to the rallies and roadshows in the battle for the electorally crucial state.
All the political parties campaigned hard in the last phase to bolster their performance. The polling on Monday will decide the fate of 613 candidates on 54 assembly seats in nine districts of the state.
Polling in this phase will also be held in Varanasi, the parliamentary constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Prime Minister held a massive roadshow in Varanasi on Friday, interacted with people from various backgrounds at "prabudh sammelan" and addressed a rally on Saturday.
The polling will commence at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm in the districts of Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra.
The key constituencies in this phase include Azamgarh, Mau, Zahoorabad, Mohammadabad, Varanasi North, Varanasi South, Varanasi Cantt and Gyanpur.
The polling will decide the electoral fate of some ministers in Yogi Adityanath government. They include Anil Rajbhar (Shivpur), Ravindra Jaiswal (Varanasi North), Neelkanth Tiwari (Varanasi South) and Rama Shankar Singh Patel (Madihan).
Arvind Rajbhar of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party is up against Transport Minister Anil Rajbhar in the Shivpur seat.
Former minister Dara Singh Chauhan, who had joined Samajwadi Party after leaving BJP, is in the fray from Ghosi seat of Mau district.
Alka Rai, the sitting MLA wife of late BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai, is in the fray from Mohammadabad seat of Ghazipur district.
Former BJP MP Krishna Pratap Singh is contesting on the Malhni seat of Jaunpur. Lucky Yadav is Samajwadi Party candidate from the seat.
On Mau Sadar seat, don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari's son Abbas Ansari is contesting on SP ticket. In Shahganj in Jaunpur district, the Samajwadi Party has fielded sitting MLA Shailendra Yadav Lalai.
The counting of votes will take place on March 10. (ANI)