Uttar Pradesh Elections 2022: Dark horses in UP polls

The elections for the 403 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases starting from February 10. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Meanwhile, all the political parties have been campaigning for the polls in their full capacity. While the election Commission has put some restrictions owing to the rise in COVID-19 cases, parties have also launched their digital campaigns.

Uttar Pradesh will see a total of 403 legislative assembly seats go to the polls. The total number of polling stations in the state will be 1,74,351 and approximately over 15 crore voters will be eligible to cast their ballot this election.

While we all know the major candidates like Akhilesh Yadav and chief minister Yogi Aaditynath and their constituencies, we hardly know about the dark horses in this year's assembly polls. Here's are five candidates which can emerge as dark horses.

SP Singh Baghel - Karhal

Union Minister Satya Pal Singh Baghel on Monday filed his nomination papers from Karhal Assembly constituency to take on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. Baghel, 61, is the Lok Sabha MP from Agra and the minister of state for law and justice in the Union government. He filed his nomination minutes after Akhilesh submitted his papers.

The minister is a four-time MP and was earlier a cabinet minister in the UP government. Karhal will go to the polls on February 20, the third of the seven-phase Assembly polls in the state.

Akhilesh said his “mission” was “positive politics with progressive thinking”. “This nomination is a mission as this UP election will write the country's history for the next century. Let's take part in this movement of positive politics with progressive thinking. Defeat negative politics, remove it. Jai Hind!" Yadav tweeted in Hindi.

The Karhal constituency is just four km from Saifai, the native village of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Except for 2002, the constituency has been with the SP since 1993.

Chandra Shekhar Azad, alias Ravan - Gorakhpur

Failing to find a berth in an SP-led Opposition alliance, 35-year-old Dalit leader Chandra Shekhar Azad, alias Ravan, has decided to take on Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in Gorakhpur. The flamboyant leader has often said that his fight is against BJP/RSS ideology.

After the lawyer-turned activist’s political outfit, the Azad Samaj Party, failed to forge an alliance with the Samajwadi Party, he announced that he will contest UP polls on his own. Until now, he has announced candidates in four dozen assembly seats in the state and hopes to play the spoiler by cornering the Dalit votes, many of which went into the BJP kitty in the last Assembly election.

Feeling let down, Azad accused Akhilesh Yadav of ignoring Dalits and not accommodating them in the alliance despite the latter’s pretensions about fighting for social justice.

With Azad announcing his candidature, the Opposition parties face the prospect of either frittering away their energies in a multi-cornered contest or taking on Yogi from a single platform.

When asked about giving support to Ravan, Akhilesh was non-committal and said that there are many leaders in his party who would like to contest from Gorakhpur. He added that he would consult the local party unit before nominating anybody. According to SP leaders, the party might field a family member of a former minister who was associated with the BJP.

Keshav Prasad Maurya - Sirathu

In Kaushambi, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya will contest from BJP.

Maurya recently Maurya claimed that the BJP will win more than 300 seats.

After winning the 2017 UP Assembly elections, the BJP carried out developmental works without any discrimination, he said.

Taking a jibe at Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Maurya said that she is not finding candidates for her party.

About contesting from Sirathu, the UP Deputy Chief Minister said that in 2012, when the circumstances were not conducive for him, he had won the elections with a margin of over 10,000 votes.

"This time, the circumstances are much more conducive, and the win will be by a record margin," he said.

Keshav Prasad Maurya was elected as an MLA from Sirathu in Kaushambi in 2012. In 2014, he became the Lok Sabha MP from Phulpur seat.

He was the UP BJP chief in 2017 when the BJP won 312 out of 403 seats in the UP Assembly polls.

Sangeet Som - Sardhana

This year, the sitting BJP MLA Sangeet Som has been given ticket from Sardhana (in Meerut).

Som is also the designated ‘Hindu Hridaya Samrat’ in his area. He was booked in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots over an alleged video of a provocative speech, but cleared. The two-time MLA has seven criminal cases pending against him.

Archana Gautam - Hastinapur

Archana Gautam got an early glimpse into the murky world of politics soon after the Congress picked her as its candidate from Uttar Pradesh's Hastinapur seat but the actor-model says she is emboldened by party leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's words -- don't get scared, be strong.

The 26-year-old political debutante and former Miss Bikini India from the largely rural, conservative belt of western Uttar Pradesh is unfazed by old pictures of her doing the rounds of social media and the derogatory comments, just as she is undeterred by attacks from rival BJP and groups such as the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha.

Gautam joined the Congress in November last year after a brief stint in acting where she starred in movies such as "Great Grand Masti" and "Haseena Parker". But it is her background as winner of the 2018 Miss Bikini India pageant that is being used as ammunition by political rivals as well as trolls ahead of the assembly elections beginning next month.

While the BJP accused the Congress of indulging in "cheap publicity" by fielding Gautam from the constituency in Meerut district, social media users dug out her old photographs and videos to slut-shame her.

Gautam said she is taking it all in her stride.

Kajal Nishad - Pipraich Gorakhpur

Bhojpuri actress Kajal Nishad has been fielded from Campeirganj in Gorakhpur.

Kajal Nishad is an Indian actress working in Bhojpuri cinema and Hindi Television and politician. In 2012, she had contested the assembly election from Gorakhpur (Rural) constituency on an Indian National Congress (INC) ticket.

She is married to Bhojpuri film producer Sanjay Nishad, who is from the Bhauapaar village in the Gorakhpur district.

(With inputs from Rashmi Sharma)