Akhilesh Yadav confident of hitting ‘another century’ in next two phases of polls

As the third phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections gets underway, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav displayed confidence that his party has already won 100 seats and is set to win more in the upcoming phases.

A total of 59 seats across 16 districts are up for grabs on Sunday (February 20) – the third of the seven phase elections. In 2017, the Samajwadi Party had won only nine seats here while the BJP bagged 49 seats. In the first two phases, votes were cast for 113 seats.

Speaking to NDTV, Yadav said, “We have hit a Century in first two phases and even in the next two phases, the Samajwadi Party alliance will be ahead of everyone else.

About his party’s prospects from Bundelkhand this time, Yadav said the region is besieged with unemployment problem. He said this part of UP suffered the most when labourers returned home in large numbers during the first COVID lockdown. The SP chief said the BJP government has failed to meet its promises made to farmers who will not forgive the Adityanath government this time. “From Bundelkhand till here, the BJP has stopped development, snatched jobs,” he added.

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Political analysts say the farmers’ agitation, which became a big issue in western UP, will influence the vote in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. And, it will be an adverse one for the BJP, though to what extent it is hard to tell.

The BJP, on its part tried to do some last-moment fire-fighting, by repealing the three farm laws three months before the elections. The Modi government is yet to announce the committee it promised to set up for deciding on the MSP demand. The farmers’ leaders have been asking the government every few days to announce the committee, but it has been playing deaf. The government is obviously waiting for the election results. That will decide its approach towards the farmers.

The UP elections are being held in seven phases: February 10, 14, 20, 23, 27, and March 3 and 7. The results will be out on March 10.