UP polls: Allies, mother-son fighting each other in Allahabad

Pre-poll allies the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Apna Dal as well as the Congress and the Samajwadi Party are fighting each other on some of the 12 assembly seats in the district while a mother-son contest is also on.

In the dozen assembly segments in Allahabad that will go to polls on February 23, 181 candidates are in the fray.

Nominations for the assembly seats, the largest number for any single district in Uttar Pradesh, began with issuing of notifications for the fourth phase of polls on January 30.

Allahabad (North), which covers a major part of the city, has the highest number (26) of candidates while Handia in trans-Ganga region of the district has the lowest (9).

A messy, multi-cornered contest is likely in Soraon of trans-Ganga where despite the tie-ups between the Congress and the SP, and the BJP and the Apna Dal, their candidates are contesting against their allies besides rival parties.

The Congress, which is contesting 105 out of 403 seats in the state, has fielded Jawahar Lal Diwakar from the seat where sitting SP MLA Satyaveer ‘Munna’ has refused to back out and is seeking re-election.

Jamuna Lal Saroj of the Apna Dal is also a candidate here alongside BJP’s Surendra Kumar.

The seat has been a cause of a bitter war of words between leaders of both coalition partners of the National Democratic Alliance which is in power in the Centre.

A senior leader of the Apna Dal accused state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya of making the seat a ‘prestige issue’.

The regional outfit hopes to do well here owing to a sizeable Kurmi population while the BJP fancies its chances here as the assembly segment forms a part of Maurya’s Lok Sabha seat of Phulpur.

In Handia, both wife and son of former state cabinet minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi -- Pramila Devi and Prabhat -- are in the fray.

Tripathi, who was the minister for higher education in the Mayawati government (2007-12) and represented the assembly segment, came out on bail last month after spending a few months in jail in a disproportionate assets case.

He was expelled from the BSP shortly after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls which he had unsuccessfully contested as the party’s candidate from Bhadohi.

His wife has been fielded by the Apna Dal.

His son, who has nursed political ambitions since the time Tripathi was a minister, filed his papers on the last day for nominations and said, "I have been ignored by all parties though I have been working among the people while my mother has been given a ticket despite having no experience of public work."

The Congress-SP alliance appears to be under strain in Bara and Koraon as well -- both reserved for Scheduled Castes and falling in trans-Yamuna region.

Bara is at present represented by the SP and sitting MLA Ajay Kumar is seeking to retain the seat even though the Congress has fielded Suresh Kumar.

In Koraon, which is held by the BSP, Congress has fielded Ram Kripal -- a former MLA who had been with the Communist Party of India-Marxist till the last assembly polls.

Ramdev is contesting as Samajwadi Party’s candidate.

Both Congress and SP had fared badly in the 2012 elections with their respective candidates losing their deposits.

A total of 244 candidates filed their nominations by February 6. During scrutiny of papers on February 9, nominations of 53 candidates were rejected.

Till Thursday, 10 candidates withdrew their nominations when symbols were allotted to nominees.

IMAGE: People carrying kites during a voting awareness campaign for Uttar Pradesh assembly election along the banks of the river Ganga in Allahabad. Photograph: PTI Photo