Mehnagar assembly constituency has Manju Saroj of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) taking on Puja Saroj of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Pankaj Kumar of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Nirmala Bharti of the Indian National Congress (INC) and Gitanjali Devi of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) this year in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Kalpnath Paswan of the SP had won the Mehnagar seat in 2017 when the BJP swept Uttar Pradesh winning 312 of UP’s 403 assembly seats. Paswan had beaten his closest rival Manjoo Saroj by over 5,412 votes. Saroj had contested that election on a SBSP ticket.

In 2012, the seat was won by Brij Lal Sonkar of the SP. 

Mehnagar falls under the Azamgarh district and the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency, which is made up of five assembly seats.  

Also Read: Uttar Pradesh elections 2022: Full list of voting dates for all constituencies

Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party represented Azamgarh as a member of Parliament in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Yadav defeated Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua from the BJP with a margin of 2,59,874 votes.

Also Read: UP Elections 2022: 53.31 % voter turnout recorded in 6th phase

The Mehnagar assembly constituency will vote in the seventh phase and the last round of the Uttar Pradesh elections on March 7, 2022, along with 53 other constituencies in 9 districts.  

Results will be declared on March 10, along with those for elections in four other states, including neighbouring Uttarakhand. 

Also Read: Exit poll 2022: When and where to watch post-poll survey for 5 states

Quick facts about the Mehnagar Assembly seat- 

Name of the assembly constituency, district: Mehnagar, Azamgarh

Polling date: March 7, 2022

Phase: 7

Sitting MLA, party: Kalpnath Paswan, SP

Key candidates, party in 2022: Puja Saroj (SP), Manju Saroj (BJP), Pankaj Kumar (BSP)

Winning candidate, party in 2017:  Kalpnath Paswan, SP

Runner-up name, party 2017: Manjoo Saroj, SBSP

Winning margin in 2017:  5,412

Top 3 candidates 2017:  Kalpnath Paswan (SP), Manjoo Saroj (SBSP), Vidya Chaudhary (BSP)

Top 3 candidates 2012:  Brij Lal Sonkar (SP), Vidya Chaudhary (BSP), Kalpnath Paswan (BJP)

Lok Sabha constituency:  Azamgarh