Seema Parihar, once a dreaded bandit queen of north India, is in the race for becoming an MP from the Bhadoi constituency, the carpet and handlooms town near Varanasi. Bhadoi and two other Parliamentary constituencies go to the polls along with the sixth phase of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on May 3. | |
| Parihar, a candidate of the India Justice Party, has promised the electorate that if she wins the election, she will start a programme for the rehabilitation of former dacoits. |
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| In the 1999 Parliamentary elections, Phoolan Devi, country's most famous bandit queen, won from Bhadoi as a Samajwadi Party candidate. |
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| Besides Bhadoi, bypolls for the Mirzapur and Robertsganj Lok Sabha seats will also be held on May 3. A total of 11 candidates each are in the fray for the two seats, by-elections for which were necessitated following disqualification of the BSP MPs involved in the cash-for-questions scam. |
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| The districts going to the polls in the sixth phase of Assembly polls are Ghazipur, Chandauli, Varanasi, Jaunpur, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Sonebhadra, Mirzapur, Allahabad and Kaushambi. |
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| In the 2002 Assembly polls, the ruling SP had won 20 seats out of the 52 at stake, followed by BSP (15), BJP (11), Apna Dal (3), CPI(M), Congress and Independent one each. |
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| Fate of 785 candidates will be at stake in the sixth phase, with 234 from the national and state parties and 263 from the registered parties. |
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