After Holi festivity, Braj now set for festival of democracy
After 40-day Holi festival, Braj region gears up for elections. Mathura and Aligarh to vote on April 26, six constituencies on May 7. Mainpuri held by SP.
After the 40-day Holi festival, the Braj region is now all set for festival of democracy as the region would witness polling in the second and third phase of election process ending May 7, the electoral process lasting 40 days in the region.
Nomination for the second phase began on Thursday. Mathura and Aligarh will go to polls in the second phase on April 26.
Six Lok Sabha constituencies of Braj will go to polls on May 7. Barring Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat held by Samajwadi Party (SP), the remaining seven Lok Sabha constituencies were won by BJP in 2019. These were Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Mathura, Firozabad, Aligarh, Etah and Hathras.
SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav won Mainpuri in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. SP won the seat again in 2022 by-polls after Mulayam’s demise and Dimple Yadav, Mulayam’s daughter in law won by three lakh votes.
On the first day of the nomination no nominations were filed for Mathura and Aligarh. Nominations will continue till April 4, with scrutiny of nominations on April 5 and last date of withdrawal would be April 8. Polling would take place on April 26 in the Braj region.
In Mathura and Aligarh, the BJP is aiming for hattrick with its candidates winning both in 2014 and 2019. In Mathura, two term MP Hema Malini is now eyeing her third win. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath sought votes for her while addressing ‘Prabuddh Varg Samellan’ in Mathura on Wednesday.
Bahujan Samaj Party has fielded lawyer-journalist Kamal Kant Upmanyu, 53, a Brahmin in the fray. He had contested the polls in 1999 as BSP candidate but lost to BJP. This time Samajwadi Party having inked a pre-poll pact with Congress will field its candidate on the seat though in Aligarh, the SP has named Chaudhary Bijendra Singh, a prominent Jat leader, a former Congress MP from Aligarh.
BJP has named two-time MP Satish Gautam as its candidate in Aligarh while BSP has backed Gurfan Noor as its candidate on the seat with sizeable Muslim voters and dalit voters.