UP Election 2022: Just as the month-long campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Uttar Pradesh elections concluded on Saturday, the state is all set for voting tomorrow. Fifty-four assembly constituencies in nine districts will vote on March 7. The nine districts are Azamgarh, Mau, Jaunpur, Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Bhadohi, Mirzapur and Sonbhadra. These include the assembly segments that come under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's parliamentary constituency of Varanasi and Azamgarh where Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav is the Lok Sabha member.
Prominent leaders of opposition parties are also reaching Varanasi, which would be the nerve centre of the grand finale. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is holding a joint rally with SP president Akhilesh Yadav and his RLD ally Jayant Chaudhary on Thursday. All the allies of the SP-led coalition would attend the rally to give a strong message of challenge to the saffron camp.
After humbling the BJP in her home state West Bengal, Banerjee is trying to lead a formidable grouping of the anti-BJP forces in the next national election. Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and BSP supremo Mayawati have already marked their attendance in Varanasi and neighbouring areas.
It is not yet known whether Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will visit Varanasi or not before the campaign ends on Saturday evening. However, his party leaders including MP Sanjay Singh have been moving around Varanasi for quite some days.
Locked in a fierce poll battle with the Samajwadi Party in particular, winning a majority of seats out of the 54 constituencies in the end round, is a must for the BJP to continue its sway in the 2024 general election.
Riding on the "Modi wave", the BJP-led coalition had won in all the eight assembly segments of Varanasi in 2017 and so was the case in the majority of the seats in the neighbouring districts.
Meanwhile, top BJP leaders on Saturday exuded confidence that the party will retain power in four states and make impressive gains in Punjab.
Addressing a joint press conference here ahead of the final phase of voting in Uttar Pradesh, BJP president JP Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah said those hoping for any dilution in the party's mandate in the state would be disappointed and it will get a massive majority.
"The BJP is set to come back with a firm majority in the states we were in the government - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur," Nadda said.
Both Shah and Nadda were emphatic in rejecting the possibility of the BJP needing the support of parties outside its alliance to form a government in Uttar Pradesh.
Nadda also dismissed the view that there is a close fight in the state, saying such claims are often made during the polls but the BJP ends up winning a strong majority.
(With inputs from agencies)
