Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh from 10 February to 7 March 2022 in seven phases to elect all 403 members for the 18th Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 10 March 2022.

Background The tenure of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly was scheduled to end on 14 May 2022. The previous assembly elections were held February–March 2017. After the election, Bharatiya Janata Party formed the state government, with Yogi Adityanath becoming Chief Minister.

Panchayat Elections

In the 2021 Uttar Pradesh Panchayat Elections, SP won 760 wards, followed by BJP with 720 wards. Bahujan Samaj Party won 381 and Indian National Congress won 76 wards. Independents and smaller parties won in 1,114 wards. AAP won 64 and AIMIM won 22 wards in the panchayat elections.

Political developments

In January 2022, ten BJP state legislators including three ministers, left the party and joined Samajwadi Party. On 19 January, Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Bisht Yadav joined BJP. She was followed by Mulayam Singh's brother-in-law Pramod Gupta who joined BJP on 20 January. On 25 January, former Union Minister and Congress leader Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh joined BJP.

Schedule The election schedule was announced by the Election Commission of India on 8 January 2022.

Poll event PhaseIIIIIIIVVVIVII Notification date14 January 202221 January 202225 January 202227 January 20221 February 20224 February 202210 February 2022 Last date for filing nomination21 January 202228 January 20221 February 20223 February 20228 February 202211 February 202217 February 2022 Scrutiny of nomination24 January 202229 January 20222 February 20224 February 20229 February 202214 February 202218 February 2022 Last date for withdrawal of nomination27 January 202231 January 20224 February 20227 February 202211 February 202216 February 202222 February 2022 Date of poll10 February 202214 February 202220 February 202223 February 202227 February 20223 March 20227 March 2022Date of counting of votes 10 March 2022

PhaseI (58 ACs, 11 Districts)II (55 ACs, 9 Districts)III (59 ACs, 16 Districts)IV (59 ACs, 9 Districts)V (61 ACs, 11 Districts)VI (57 ACs, 10 Districts)VII (54 ACs, 9 Districts)Shamli Muzaffarnagar Meerut Baghpat Ghaziabad Hapur Gautam Budh Nagar Bulandshahr Aligarh Mathura AgraSaharanpur Bijnor Moradabad Sambhal Rampur Amroha Budaun Bareilly ShahjahanpurHathras Firozabad Kasganj Etah Mainpuri Farrukhabad Kannauj Etawah Auraiya Kanpur Dehat Kanpur Nagar Jalaun Jhansi Lalitpur Hamirpur MahobaPilibhit Lakhimpur Kheri Sitapur Hardoi Unnao Lucknow Rae Bareli Banda FatehpurAmethi Sultanpur Chitrakoot Pratapgarh Kaushambi Prayagraj Barabanki Ayodhya Bahraich Shravasti GondaAmbedkar Nagar Balrampur Siddharthnagar Basti Sant Kabir Nagar Maharajganj Gorakhpur Kushinagar Deoria BalliaAzamgarh Mau Ghazipur Jaunpur Chandauli Varanasi Bhadohi Mirzapur Sonbhadra

Parties and alliances

National Democratic Alliance

During the month of September, the NDA confirmed an alliance between BJP, AD(S) and the NISHAD Party. During the month of August, the NDA held talks with parties like JD(U), HAM(S) and others, however the seat sharing talks fell apart later. In October, there were major restructuring efforts by the alliance with new faces and revamp of parties in an effort to battle anti-incumbency. In the first 2 weeks of December, the alliance launched it campaign for the election. On 13 Jan the national democratic alliance sealed their seat sharing pact with NISHAD Party getting 16 and Apna Dal getting 17 and BJP competing on remaining 370 seats. 6 NISHAD Party candidates would fight on BJP symbol. colspan="7" National Democratic Alliance Party Flag Symbol Leader Seats Contested Yogi Adityanath 370376 Shravan Nishad 6 Sanjay Nishad 10 Anupriya Patel 17 Total 403

Samajwadi Party+

RLD was the first to join the alliance. The NCP and RJD too joined the alliance later. Various other smaller parties too joined while SBSP broke away from its alliance to join SP alliance. During the first seat sharing talks, SP agreed to give RLD 36 seats. Initially, RLD demanded 60 seats while SP were willing to give up to 30, later both the parties finalised at 33 with RLD mostly competing in West UP. RLD gave 9 symbol of SP candidates. Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party began talks for alliance, however they couldn't agree on seat sharing. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) joined the alliance later. On 13 January 2022, the alliance announced its initial candidates for the first few phases of the election. SP and SBSP would have a friendly fight on 1 seat while SP and AD(K) would have a friendly fight on 2 seats. No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav 347 310 372. Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohiya) Shivpal Singh Yadav 1 1 03. Mahan Dal Keshav Dev Maurya 2 1 14. Janvadi Party (Socialist) Sanjay Chauhan 1 1 05. Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) Dr. Pallavi Patel 1 0 1 Krishna Patel 4 3 16. Rashtriya Lok Dal Jayant Chaudhary 33 31 27. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party Om Prakash Rajbhar 17 16 18. Nationalist Congress Party KK Sharma 1 1 0 Total 402 TBD TBD

Bahujan Samaj Party

Unlike in previous years, the Bahujan Samaj Party announced that it would compete in the election all by itself. BSP went into an alliance with ten small political parties, namely the India Janshakti Party, Pacchasi Parivartan Samaj Party, Vishwa Shanti Party, Sanyukt Janadesh Party, Adarsh Sangram Party, Akhand Vikas Bharat Party, Sarvajan Awaz Party, Jagruk Janata Party and Sarvajan Sewa Party for their extended support to BSP.

No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. Bahujan Samaj Party Mayawati 403 366 37

Indian National Congress

On 19 October 2021, Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi announced 40% of tickets to women in upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly polls. No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. Indian National Congress Priyanka Gandhi 399 244 155

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen

All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, Jan Adhikar Party, Bharat Mukti Morcha, Janata Kranti Party and Bharatiya Vanchit Samaj Party have formed a front to contest all 403 seats.

+ No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Shaukat Ali 95 90 52. Jan Adhikar Party Babu Singh Kushwaha 137 119 183. Bharat Mukti Morcha Waman Meshram TBD TBD TBD4. Janata Kranti Party Anil Singh Chauhan TBD TBD TBD5. Bharatiya Vanchit Samaj Party Ram Prasad Kashyap TBD TBD TBD6. Peace Party of India Mohamed Ayub TBD TBD TBD7. Rashtriya Ulama Council Aamir Rashadi Madni TBD TBD TBD

Left Front

+ No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. Communist Party of India Girish Sharma 35 34 12. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Heera Lal Yadav 3 3 03. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation Sudhakar Yadav 11 9 24. All India Forward Bloc S.N. Singh Chouhan 3 3 05. Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) V.N. Singh 9 9 0

Others During the month leading up to the elections major political parties which aren't part of any alliance announced their intentions to compete in the election. AAP announced that it would compete on all 403 seats but later contested on 349 seats including Charthawal Assembly constituency where the AAP candidate joined SP on poll eve. AAP started an alliance discussion with SP but the talks for alliance did not succeed. Shiv Sena announced they would compete all 403 seat in the election which was later reduced to 36 seats. AIMIM originally was part of alliance and was given a seat share of 100 seats, however when SBSP broke the alliance to join hands with SP, AIMIM confirmed they would fight the election alone in 95 seats.

Later parties like VSIP, LJP (Ram Vilas), Rashtriya Rashtrawadi Party, ABHM and ASPKR also confirmed their participation in the election

No. Party Flag Symbol Leader Photo Seats contested Male candidates Female candidates1. Aam Aadmi Party Sanjay Singh 349 319 302. Janata Dal (United) 27 26 13. Shiv Sena Thakur Singh 36 29 74. Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) Raghuraj Pratap Singh 16 15 15. Vikassheel Insaan Party Mukesh Sahani 53 47 66. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) Chirag Paswan 21 20 17. Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) Chandra Shekhar Aazad 110 104 6

Candidates

Manifestos

NDA On 8 February, BJP released its manifesto titled "Lok Sankalp Patra", ahead of the 1st phase of the elections. Some of the promises in it being:

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PMKISAN) scheme for landless farmers Scooty for female students and working women Free coaching to female students preparing for UPSC and PSC Laptops and other gadgets needed for online education for students Give at least 1 job to each household 3 free LPG cylinders to consumers each year under Ujjwala Yojna

BSP BSP announced that it will not release election manifesto.

UPA INC released its manifesto in three tranches. The first tranche "Shakti Vidhan" was released on 19 December 2021 which centered on women welfare. The second tranche "Bharti Vidhan" was released on 21 January 2022 which centered on youth welfare. The final tranche "Unnati Vidhan" was released on 9 February 2022 which centered on overall development and general issues.

Some key promises made in the manifesto are: All farmers' debts shall be waived. Paddy and wheat shall be procured at ₹2,500 per quintal and sugarcane shall be procured at ₹400 per quintal Electricity bills shall be reduced by half and pending arrears from the COVID-19 period shall be waived ₹25,000 shall be provided to families worst-affected by COVID-19 The backlog of 20 lakh jobs in the public sector shall be filled, including 8 lakh jobs for women Every girl in 10th and 12th standard will be given a smartphone and every woman enrolled in a graduate programme will be given an electric scooty 40% of Vidhan Sabha tickets will be given to women The fees for all examination forms will be waived and travel by bus and trains would be made free Fulfilment of all vacant seats in state healthcare hospitals Encouragement to industries, tourism, small and medium scale industries To boost startups in the state, a ‘Seed Startup Fund’ worth would be set up, prioritising the entrepreneurs below 30 years of age All the vacant posts for Sanskrit, Urdu teachers Anganwadi, Asha and so on will also be filled In the basic education sector, the shortage of one lakh head teachers will be met

SP+ Samajwadi Party released its manifesto on 8 February 2022.

The National President of Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav released his party's 88-page manifesto for the elections. Under the motto "Satya Vachan, Atoot Vaada" (), the manifesto is laden with promises to farmers, women and the youth. Some key points from the party's manifesto are:

Minimum support price (MSP) for all crops All farmers to be debt-free by 2025 Free power for irrigation, interest-free loan and insurance as well as pension benefits to farmers compensation to kin of farmers who died during farm protests Efforts to provide 22 lakh jobs in IT sector Urban employment guarantee act along lines of MGNREGS to boost jobs 33 per cent reservation for women of all communities (SCs/STs/General) in government jobs including police force Microfinance bank to help micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) 300 units of free power to domestic consumers Free Wi-Fi zones in all villages and cities Further modernisation and upgradation of police and health infrastructure Dial 1890 Mazdoor Power Line- will be launched for migrant labourers Zero tolerance for organised crimes and hate crimes against women, minorities and Dalits

Campaigns