The 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, conducted over seven phases, came to an end on Thursday with a massive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The party managed to retain power in the state. Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP) was a distant second, and both Indian National Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) put up disappointing performances, winning two and one seats respectively.
While the election resulted in big wins for some candidates like Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, it also threw up some losses for prominent faces like Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and former Cabinet minister Dharam Singh Saini.
We take a look at the performances of key players in the 2022 UP elections.
Yogi Adityanath
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath won the Gorakhpur Urban seat with a margin of over one lakh votes. He is also the first BJP chief minister who will return to power in the state. The last time any chief minister was able to achieve this accomplishment was in 1985.
Akhilesh Yadav
This was former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s first attempt at contesting in an Assembly election and he won by a margin of over 67,000 votes. While his party may have failed to secure a majority in the state, SP recorded its best vote share in UP Assembly elections since 2007.
Azam Khan
Currently lodged in jail, SP’s founding member won the Rampur constituency by securing almost 60% of the votes. Mr. Khan is also the candidate with the highest number of criminal cases – 87 – to have contested the 2022 UP election.
Keshav Prasad Maurya versus Dr. Pallavi Patel
Dr. Patel pulled off a major upset when she defeated Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya in Sirathu constituency. She won 1,06,278 votes, while Mr. Maurya secured 98,941 votes.
Dr. Patel is the leader of the Apna Dal (Kameravadi) party and contested on an SP ticket. She is also the sister of Anupriya Patel who is the leader of BJP ally Apna Dal (Soneylal).
Mr. Maurya has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanhg (RSS) and its sister organisation, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) from an early age. He had won the Sirathu constituency in the 2012 UP Assembly election and was then fielded from the Phulpur constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, which he had won.
Swami Prasad Maurya
Swami Prasad Maurya lost to BJP candidate Surendra Kumar Kushwaha in Fazilnagar constituency by a margin of 45,014 votes.
Mr. Maurya had resigned from Yogi Adityanath’s cabinet and quit BJP to join SP shortly before the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Aditi Singh
BJP candidate Aditi Singh, who had quit as a sitting Congress MLA, won the Raebareli seat.
Raebareli is a Congress stronghold and also the parliamentary constituency of Sonia Gandhi, the veteran leader of the Congress party.
Om Prakash Rajbhar
Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar registered a victory in Zahoorabad constituency, winning over 46% votes. SBSP was a key ally of Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s SP in the 2022 Assembly elections but had contested the 2017 elections as a BJP ally.
Mr. Rajbhar was a minister in Mr. Adityanath’s Cabinet before being sacked in May 2019.
Shivpal Yadav
Mr. Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle and SP leader Shivpal Yadav won from Jaswantnagar constituency. He defeated BJP candidate Vivek Shakya by over 90,000 votes.
Mr. Akhilesh Yadav and Mr. Shivpal Yadav had a public falling-out in 2017. Mr. Shivpal Yadav floated a new party in 2018 and called it Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia. The two leaders came together for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh elections “to defeat BJP”.
Dharam Singh Saini
Dharam Singh Saini, who resigned from his post as the Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ayush, Food Security and Drug Administration in Mr. Adityanath’s Cabinet and quit BJP to join SP, lost in Nakur constituency to BJP candidate Mukesh Choudhary. After quitting BJP, Mr. Maurya had accused the BJP government of disregarding the OBC and Dalit people and their leaders.
Satish Chandra Dwivedi
Minister of State (Independent Charge) Basic Education and BJP candidate Satish Chandra Dwivedi suffered a defeat at the hands of SP candidate Mata Prasad Pandey in Itwa constituency of Uttar Pradesh. Mr. Pande is the former Speaker of the UP Legislative Assembly.
Ajay Kumar Lallu
Congress State President Ajay Kumar Lallu contested from Tamukhi Raj and could only secure 14.78% votes in the constituency. Mr. Lallu was stood third in the constituency, behind winning BJP candidate Asim Kumar and SP’s Uday Narayan.
