Uttar Pradesh elections: Aparna Yadav versus Rita Bahuguna Joshi, 10 things to know
Aparna Yadav is contesting from a constituency that Samajwadi Party has never won while Rita Bahuguna Joshi snatched this seat in 2012 from the BJP after 21 years. Aparna banks on the legacy of her father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav while Rita Bahuguna Joshi's father HN Bahuguna also served as UP CM.
SP leader Aparna Yadav and BJP leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi. (Photo: @ANI_news)
Lucknow,UPDATED: Feb 19, 2017 11:56 IST
BJP candidate from Lucknow Cantonment constituency Rita Bahuguna Joshi has dismissed Samajwadi Party contender from the seat Aparna Yadav as a weak contestant.
Rita Bahuguna Joshi said that even the 'emotional appeal' by her father-in-law and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav would not help Aparna Yadav in the elections.
After casting her vote in Lucknow today, Rita Bahuguna Joshi sadi, "Mulayam Singh Yadav's emotional to people to vote for his younger daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav points to the fact that she is losing."
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APARNA YADAV VS RITHA BAHUGUNA JOSHI: THINGS TO KNOW
- The Lucknow Cantonment Assembly segment of Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is one of the high profile seats where voting is underway today.
- Aparna Yadav is in direct fight with Rita Bahuguna Joshi on this seat. BSP candidate Yogesh Dixit is considered a relatively fringe player in this constituency.
- Lucknow Cantonment seat has been a stronghold of Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who won this seat by defeating Suresh Chandra Tewari by a over 21,000 votes in 2012 when the Samajwadi Party surprised many by winning majority on its own.
- In the last elections, Rita Bahuguna Joshi snatched this seat from the BJP, which had held it since 1991, when the Ram temple movement was picking up and Uttar Pradesh was swept by Hindutva wave.
- Before 1991, Lucknow Cantonment seat was a Congress bastion. Rita Bahuguna Joshi hopes that both the BJP and Congress supporters would vote for her.
- The Samajwadi Party has never won this Assembly seat in the past. When Aparna Yadav was named for this constituency as a candidate, many did not give her even an outside chance.
- Aparna Yadav, reportedly, wanted a safer seat for her political debut. But, once Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav named her for the seat, she hit the road and tried to reach out to every possible segment of voters.
- The contest between Aparna Yadav and Rita Bahuguna Joshi has an interesting historical aspect. While Aparna Yadav's father-in-law Mulayam Singh Yadav is a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh while Rita Bahuguna Joshi's father Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna also occupied the same chair.
- In the third phase of polling, Uttar Pradesh is voting for 69 seats today. More than 825 candidates from 105 parties are in the fray for Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
- The Samajwadi Party had won 55 of these 69 seats in the last Assembly elections. The districts, where polling is underway are Lucknow, Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Etawah, Mainpuri, Kannauj, Hardoi, Barabanki, Sitapur, Auraiya, Unnao and Farrukhabad.
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