Akhilesh Yadav leads tally with 222 rallies in 36 days

Lucknow: The Samajwadi family war that left chief minister Akhilesh Yadav almost isolated after his father Mulayam Singh Yadav retreated into a shell, apparently made him work extra hard for the elections.

The chief minister addressed 222 rallies in 36 days, which comes to an average of six rallies a day. With no other star campaigner in the party, it was finally his wife and SP MP Dimple Yadav who came to his rescue and started campaigning. She addressed 33 rallies in this election.

State BJP president Keshav Maurya comes a close second with 150 rallies while BJP president Amit Shah addressed over a 100 rallies in these elections in UP.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 23 rallies, often two in a day, and campaigned in Uttar Pradesh every alternate day. The Prime Minister spent the last three days in his constituency Varanasi and held two road shows there. This was the most intensive campaign ever done by a PM in Uttar Pradesh.

In the Congress, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed 45 election rallies and three road shows along with alliance partner and SP president Akhilesh Yadav. These road shows were in Lucknow, Agra and Varanasi. UPCC president Raj Babbar, however, topped the chart by addressing 65 rallies. After Mr Rahul Gandhi, he was the most sought after leader in the party by candidates — both from Congress and SP.

In the BSP, Ms Mayawati addressed 52 rallies while other leaders including Satish Chandra Misra and Naseemuddin Siddiqui also addressed two dozen meetings each.

SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, who kept himself away from the Samajwadi party campaign, held only four rallies — two for his brother Shivpal in Jaswantnagar in Etawah, one for his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and one for his old associate Parasnath Yadav in Jaunpur.

Meanwhile, some of the faces who went missing in this election season, despite having been a regular in previous elections, were sorely missed by the people.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi could not campaign due to health issue but she sent a video message and a letter for her voters in Rae Bareli. Her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also did not go beyond one rally in Rae Bareli.

In the Samajwadi Party, Mr Shivpal Yadav, Mr Beni Prasad, Mr Amar Singh and Ms Jaya Prada were not asked to campaign following their strained relationship with SP president Akhilesh Yadav.

In the BJP, senior leaders including L.K. Advani, Varun Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and Murli Manohar Joshi kept away from the campaign and this had an impact on their respective areas of influence.

Another star campaigner who was conspicuous by his absence was BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, who has been one of the most sought after campaigner in UP over the years. He was not included in the list of star campaigners in the state.