Phase IV Uttar Pradesh polls for 53 seats on February 22

More than 2 lakh security personnel and over 200 companies of Central forces are on their toes to ensure a free and fair poll. The fate of 680 candidates will be sealed by 1.84 crore voters at 19,487 polling booths from 7 am to 5 pm. All the borders of the districts going to polls were sealed at 5 pm as the campaign ended on Tuesday evening.

Central forces reached the headquarters of these 12 districts and conducted flag marches. All liquor shops will remain closed till the end the voting ends. Prominent among those in the fray are - Congress president Sonia Gandhi along with Union ministers Uma Bharti and Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti. 

UP BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya is also in the fray in this phase. The fourth phase will see a crucial contest in Rae Bareli, the parliamentary constituency of Sonia Gandhi; Allahabad, the home town of Maurya; Fatehpur, the political arena of Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti and Bundelkhand region represented by Uma Bharti. 

The region, which will test the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance besides the influence of Bahujan Samaj Party and BJP, witnessed highly surcharged campaigning by leaders of almost all the major political parties.

PM Modi addressed three election meetings in this phase while Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh held six meetings on Tuesday. BJP president Amit Shah held an impressive roadshow in Allahabad ending the campaign for this phase. The SP-Congress alliance of SP president Akhilesh Yadav and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi organised a joint election meeting in Jhansi and in Allahabad, they held a joint roadshow to end the campaign. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also addressed two election meetings with her brother in Rae Bareli but skipped other places in her mother’s parliamentary constituency.

BJP President Amit Shah dubbed Congress, SP and BSP as ‘KASAB’, adding yet another acronym in the Uttar Pradesh poll campaign, and said development will elude the state till ‘Kasab is laid to rest’.

Elaborating on the acronym at an election meeting, he said, “In this election, people of UP should get rid of Kasab. I say it again, people of UP should get rid of Kasab. Do not take any other meaning when I say Kasab. What I mean by KASAB is - KA for Congress, SA for Samajwadi Party and B for BSP. Shah made these comments while seeking to draw a parallel between the rival parties and the Mumbai attacker Ajmal Kasab. “Until and unless Kasab is laid to rest, development and prosperity will continue to elude the poll-bound state. “In other words, it means that the state may have to languish further, if there is no respite from these political parties,” he said. Prime Minister Modi has coined ‘SCAM’ for SP, Congress, Akhilesh and Mayawati, and dubbed BSP as ‘Behenji Sampatti Party’.

Sonia Gandhi, who has been absent from the political campaign in the ongoing UP polls, on Wednesday issued a statement against the BJP, accusing it for taking away the ‘happiness of the people’.

Unleashing a tirade of accusations against the Centre, Sonia said, “Prime Minister Modi-led NDA government is depriving you (people) of welfare programmes deliberately, and I am pained to see this happening. Instead of bringing good days, this government has taken away the happiness of people.” “Have you ever seen a government that works against its people and make them week? Sadly, the Modi Government is doing this. It is working for a handful of industrialists,” the statement added. Sonia Gandhi also said, “Raebareli and Amethi have become an integral part of our lives. Ours is a special relationship, biggest asset of my life.” It was the first time since 1998 that Gandhi didn’t campaign for the Congress in her constituency.