BJP fields Yogi Adityanath from his bastion Gorakhpur - Here's all about the constituency

The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Saturday announced its highly-anticipated candidate list for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The incumbent Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government is seeking to retain power against several opposition parties, mainly the Samajwadi Party. In a big political development ahead of the polls, the BJP had decided to field Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath from Gorakhpur. 

All you need to know about Gorakhpur constituency

Yogi Adityanath is a former Member of Parliament who has not contested an Assembly election before. However, he has been fielded by the saffron party from Gorkakhpur - his stronghold as opposed to speculations that he might be fielded from the temple cities of Ayodhya or Mathura. Gorakhpur was Adityanath's parliamentary bastion as he is a former 5-time MP from that constituency. He was later elected to the House and as a Chief Minister through the Legislative Council. His election to the Vidhan Parishad was unopposed. 

2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 

As it stands, the Gorakhpur constituency is held by the BJP. In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, BJP leader Radha Mohan Das Agrawal won by a huge margin of 60,730 votes defeating Congress candidate Rana Rahul Singh. The Gorakhpur Assembly constituency is also a stronghold of Radha Mohan Das Agrawal as he has been an MLA from there since 2002. Moreover, the constituency has always been a BJP bastion as before Agrawal, the party had Shiv Pratap Shukla as an MLA who later served as Minister of State for Finance in PM Modi's first cabinet. Additonally, Radha Mohan Das Agrawal is also known to be a close aide of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. 

2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections 

In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, the BJP won an overwhelming majority of 325 seats in the 403-member House, This was seen as a mandate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi as BJP had not projected a chief ministerial candidate before the election. On the other hand, the Samajwadi Party-Congress alliance failed to bear fruit as it managed to win in only 54 constituencies, whereas the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was limited to 19 seats.

As it currently stands, the BJP led by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is seeking to retain power and the saffron party with its top leaders has commenced its campaign trail. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party chief and former CM Akhilesh Yadav is seeking to make a comeback in the state and has embarked on a statewide tour as a part of his "Samajwadi Vijay Yatra". Yadav has repeatedly claimed that his party will win 400 seats in the 2022 Assembly polls. Yadav has ruled out any alliance with Congress and BSP, but has announced a tie-up with Shivpal Yadav's PSP(L), Mahan Dal, OP Rajbhar's SBSP, RLD, and the Apna Dal faction of Krishna Patel.

On the other hand, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is leading the Congress campaign centred around the slogan 'Ladki Hoon Lad Sakti Hoon', signifying women empowerment. Even though BSP has been in power multiple times over the last three decades, its supremo Mayawati hasn't formally commenced her party's election campaign. Moreover, AIMIM is also seeking to emerge as a kingmaker in UP having made public its plan to contest 100 seats.