Will UP assembly polls take place in January and February ???

Sanjay Bhatnagar
Published on: 15 Oct 2016 5:59 AM GMT
Will UP assembly polls take place in January and February  ???
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Congress to contest Uttar Pradesh civic elections without alliance with SP

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh may go to assembly polls in January and February in 2017, as the speculation in the political and administrative circles suggest.

The term of 16th assembly may come to end in the May next year but technically the new assembly should be formed by March 15, the date on which Akhilesh Yadav had taken oath as the Chief Minister in 2012. Thus the UP assembly will complete its five year on March 2017 although it is up to legal experts to calculate accordingly.

As per the political grapevines, the Election Commission may announce dates of election in the first or second week of December but there is no official word about this so far. The reports also suggest the elections will be held at least in six phases but finality in this regard is yet to be out.

UP CM Akhilesh had stated that he was okay with an early polls i.e in January and February. All the political parties are already in the election mode as they step up their organisational activities. Almost all the parties have launched their respective campaign in some way or another with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi wound up first round of 'Kisan Yatra' in order to gauge mood of the public.

Meanwhile, the poll surveys also started pouring in, though bit early but but nevertheless setting up a tempo for the big event. Bahujan Samaj Party Supremo Mayawati had also addressed a mega rally even as Rahul Gandhi staged several road shows during his 'Kisan Yatra'

On the top of it, Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the camapiagn by participating in the historic Ramleela of Lucknow on Dussehra day.

Presently, the Samajwadi Party enjoys comfortable majority in the House of 403 members and will have the tough time countering anti-incumbency.

Sanjay Bhatnagar

Sanjay Bhatnagar

Writer is a bi-lingual journalist with experience of about three decades in print media before switching over to digital media. He is a political commentator and covered many political events in India and abroad.

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