The areas where voting is being held today include Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modialso has its parliamentary constituency and Azamgarh, which is represented by the head of the Samajwadi Party. Akhilesh YadavWhich is a major challenge for the ruling BJP.
For the BJP, it was the region that returned the lowest dividend in the 2017 elections as compared to the first 6 phases. And perhaps this explains why the leaders of the entire party under the leadership of PM Modi campaigned extensively in the last phase.
In Phase 7 assembly constituencies, the BJP won 29 out of 54 seats. This was the lowest compared to the party’s score in the first 6 stages.
BJP’s best performance was in the first phase of seats, when it won 53 out of 58 seats and in the fourth phase, it won 50 out of 59 seats.
The BJP would be hoping for a lead in Azamgarh district, where it could win only one out of the 10 assembly seats.
The Samajwadi Party, which won 11 seats in the region in the 2017 elections, will rely heavily on its allies to garner some gains.
Akhilesh Yadav’s party could not win even a single seat in five out of 10 districts. It includes Varanasi, Mau, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra.
In fact, the role of allies that won 11 seats in 2017 will be important for both the BJP and the SP.
Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party had won 6 seats in this region and was runner-up in 14 others.
change of seats
The Samajwadi Party will hope to repeat its 2012 performance in the region when it won 34 seats and narrowed down the BJP to just 4.
In 2017, the tables had turned completely. BJP lost 25 seats and SP 23 seats.
BJP’s victory margin
The BJP may have won fewer seats than in the previous round, but its margin of victory was impressive. The ruling party had won 17 assembly seats by a margin of over 20,000 votes. The difference in 11 of these seats was over 40,000 votes.
division of votes
In 2017, if there was a common theme in various rounds of elections in UP apart from BJP dominance, it was the division of votes due to a triangular contest.
The same story happened in the seventh phase seats as well. The margin of victory in 41 out of 54 seats was less than the third-placed vote by the party.
And once again, it was the BSP that played the lead role in the loot game. However, unlike the other phases, here it helped the SP more than the BJP. division of votes MayawatiThe party helped the SP in 10 seats and the BJP in 9 seats. On the other hand, SP helped BJP in 8 seats.
It remains to be seen whether Phase 7 remains the toughest for the BJP or whether PM Modi’s special focus on Varanasi in the last five years has an impact in the surrounding districts.
How the fortunes of the parties change in 2022 will be known after the counting of votes on March 10.