Mukhtar Ansari: Crime don Mukhtar Ansari, who joined Bahujan Samaj Party just before the Uttar Pradesh legislative elections this year, is trailing in Mau constituency. Mahindra Rajbhar of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, an ally of BJP, is leading showing voters’ clear rejection of a candidate with multiple criminal records.
Aparna Yadav: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s feisty, younger daughter-in-law is trailing from Lucknow cantonment seat. BJP’s Dr Reeta Joshi, who joined the saffron party in 2016 after 24 years in Congress, is leading.
Shivpal Yadav: It seems that the drama which unfolded in SP supremo Mulayam Singh’s family did not dent younger brother Shivpal Yadav’s image as he is leading in Jaswant Nagar (Etawah). His closest rival is BJP’s Manish Yadav Batre.
Garima Sinh: This ‘Rani’, the estranged first wife of the erstwhile Maharaja of Amethi, is leading leaving SP’s rape-accused minister Gayatri Prajapati behind. BJP fielding her was seen as an interesting move as the Maharaja’s second wife, Ameeta Sinh, had contested from the Amethi seat in 2012.
Gayatri Prajapati: This minister from SP cabinet, who is the prime accused in a rape and molestation case, is trailing from Amethi after taking a lead in the morning. He was last seen on February 27 during the voting in Amethi.
Siddharth Nath Singh: Singh, BJP’s national secretary and grandson of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, has won from Allahabad West seat with a margin of 25,336 votes. His closest contender, Richa Singh of SP, got 60, 182 votes while Singh got 85, 518 votes.
Sangeet Singh Som: BJP’s Sangeet Singh Som, one of the accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, is leading from Sardhana. Som was in the eye of a controversy a couple of years back when it was found that despite being an anti-beef crusader, he was the co-founder of a halal meat exporting company called Al-Dua Food Processing Private Ltd.
Sibakatullah Ansari: Brother of don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, BSP’s Sibakatullah is leading from Mohammadabad. Interestingly, he is pitted against Alka Rai, whose husband Krishnanand Rai was reportedly killed by Mukhtar.
Ameeta Sinh: The present wife of the former Maharaja of Amethi, Sanjay Sinh, is trailing on a Congress ticket in Amethi. In the much-hyped battle of Ranis, voters seem to have given their mandate to the former Rani, BJP’s Garima Sinh.