Uttar Pradesh urban local body elections will be held in two phases on May 4 and 11, while the counting of votes will be done on May 13. In phase one, as many as 37 districts in Saharanpur, Moradabad, Agra, Jhansi, Prayagraj, Lucknow, Devipatan, Gorakhpur and Varanasi divisions would go to polls. While in the second phase 38 districts in Meerut, Bareilly, Aligarh, Kanpur, Chitrakoot, Ayodhya, Basti, Azamgarh and Mirzapur will gear up for the political exercise, seen crucial to gauge public sentiments of urban voters ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
A total of 17 mayoral posts will be contested in the election, in which five are reserved for women. Lucknow, Kanpur and Ghaziabad have been reserved for women, Agra reserved for women (SC) and Firozabad for OBC (women).
Key mayoral seats in UP civic elections to watch out for:
Lucknow – Being the capital city, it’s one of the key seats to look for this upcoming election. Reserved for women candidates, the election will be held here in the first phase for which 13 candidates are in fray. While the Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Sushma Kharakwal, the wife of a retired army personnel and an old party hand; the Bahujan Samaj Party has trusted Shaheen Bano; the Samajwadi Party, in Lucknow, has chosen its candidate Vandana Mishra to contest the poll.
Varanasi – The Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, battleground Varanasi’s outcome is being seen as significant for the political pundits to predict the mood of urban voters. The BJP has placed Ashok Tiwari from here while the Aam Aadmi Party – Sharda Tandon, the BSP – Subhash Chandra Majhi, and the Congress – Anil Kumar Srivastava.
Gorakhpur – In the political stronghold of chief minister Yogi Aditynath, the ruling party has fielded Manglesh Srivastava, a well-known doctor and social worker, while the Samajwadi Party announced candidate Kajal Nishad. Ramesh Sharma is AAP’s candidate meanwhile Naval Kishore Nathani (Agarwal) is BSP’s face.
Prayagraj – The BJP has fielded Umesh Chandra Kesarwani in Prayagraj where the incumbent mayor Abhilasha Nandi from BSP was eyeing a third win on a BJP symbol but was dropped. Kesarwani is the party’s Prayagraj unit chief. Meanwhile, the SP’s bet is Ajay Srivastava and the AAP’s Mohammad Kadir. Posters of Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya as a mayoral candidate on the seat have also emerged fueling speculations. Notably, Atiq Ahmad’s wife Shaista Parveen was being considered for the seat, however the party said on April 10 that nobody from the gangsters’ family would be given tickets in the wake of the events in Umesh Pal murder case where Parveen is also an accused.
Jhansi – The city has been in headlines for the murders of gangster turned politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. Here, the BJP’s face will be Bihari Lal Arya, former MLA Satish Jataria will contest the poll battle on the Samajwadi Party’s symbol. Bhagwan Das Phule is BSP candidate for the city.
Ayodhya – The temple town will face election heat in phase two. The parties are yet to announce their candidates.
