CHANDIGARH/LUCKNOW: After a high-decibel campaign that saw barbs, wild accusations and political heavyweights descending on the state to woo voters staring at a multi-cornered fight, all 117 Assembly seats in Punjab will go to polls on Sunday, while the fate of candidates in 59 seats in Uttar Pradesh will be sealed in the third phase.
Punjab election this time has turned out to be a bit complex with major parties deciding to go alone, giving multiple choices to the electorate. The fight is among the ruling Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samajwadi Party alliance, the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, a political front of farmer bodies.
While the Congress is trying hard to retain power, it is mired in leadership controversies and the tussle between the chief of Punjab Congress unit Navjot Singh Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Some political observers consider the AAP to be the frontrunner but the BJP and SAD are also putting up a tough fight.
Polling in Punjab will be held from 8 am to 6 pm. Over 2 crore voters will exercise their franchise. Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab S Karuna Raju said arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful, free and fair elections. He said that out of a total of 1,304 candidates, 231 were from national parties, 250 from state parties, 362 from unrecognised parties, and 461 were independent candidates. As many as 315 contesting candidates have criminal antecedents.
In Uttar Pradesh, as the stage is set for polling in across 16 districts, the focus is back on the traditional caste cauldron of the state. The 59 seats going to polls comprise 29 seats of Yadavland and 13 seats in Bundelkhand region.
This time, it’s being seen as a straight fight between the BJP and the SP. A lot will depend on the voting pattern of non-Yadav OBCs, often referred to as MBCs (most backward classes).
In 2017, the BJP had won 49 of 59 seats going to polls in third phase. Samajwadi Party was decimated in the Yadav belt with just eight seats under the sweeping Modi wave in 2017. While BSP and Congress had won one seat each. The polling will take place between 7 am and 6 pm, according to the poll authorities.
