New Delhi: Lakhimpur Kheri goes to the polls on Wednesday, which is the fourth phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. There seems to be a stiff fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party (SP).
In the 2017 assembly elections, Yogesh Verma of the BJP had emerged victorious by defeating his closest rival Utkarsh Verma Madhur of the Samajwadi Party. Yogesh had won the seat with a formidable margin of 37,000 votes.
However, Utkarsh Verma Madhur will look to repeat his 2012 assembly election performance, where he had won the seat by defeating Gyan Prakash Bajpai of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party.
Interestingly, both the BJP and SP have chosen to stick to the same candidates for the 2022 assembly elections.
A lot is at stake for the BJP including Union Minister of State for the Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Teni whose son is the prime accused in the killing of protesting farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri. The farmers were holding protest march against three controversial farm laws.
In October last year, four farmers and a journalist were mowed down by a convoy of three vehicles, one of which belonged to Ashish Mishra, son of Ajay Mishra Teni. In total eight people had died in the incident.
On February 15, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Ashish Mishra, which has now been challenged in the Supreme Court by the family members of those killed in the incident.
The third phase of polling in the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh elections concluded on February 20 with a voter trunout of near 63%. The remaining phases of elections are scheduled for February 23, February 27, March 3 and March 7. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.