UP By-Elections 2018: All You Need To Know About The Gorakhpur And Phulpur Constituencies

What segments does the Gorakhpur constituency consist of?

How many polling centres and polling booths were there in Gorakhpur on voting day?

How many voters are there in total in Gorakhpur?

How many Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines were used in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections?

Why were elections held now for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats?

What is the history and significance of the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency?

How many candidates contested the Gorakhpur by-election?

Why does the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat hold significance?

A the contest between BJP and Samajwadi Party comes neck-to-neck in the Uttar Pradesh by-elections, here is all you need to know about the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies.The Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency consists of the segments of Caimpiyarganj, Pipraich, Gorakhpur Urban, Gorakhpur Rural and Sahajanwa.Gorakhpur had 970 polling centres and 2,141 polling booths. Steps were taken by the Election Commission for LIVE webcasting from 95 critical booths from both Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies.There are 19.49 lakh voters in the Gorakhpur parliamentary constituency, according to Election Commission data.4,728 VVPAT machines were used on voting day in Gorakhpur and Phulpur. These machines are used to verify that the vote polled by the voter has gone to the voter's desired candidate.BJP's Yogi Adityanath had to vacate the Gorakhpur seat when the party won the Uttar Pradesh assembly election in 2017 by a landslide after which he became the chief minister of UP. To become the Chief Minister, Mr Adityanath had to give up his parliamentary seat in order to be elected in the state legislative council. Same is the case for Phulpur, which was previously held by current deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya.Phulpur was once represented by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It was a Congress stronghold for many years after independence. The key constituency witnessed a huge surge in favour of the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Keshav Prasad Maurya, the current deputy chief minister of UP, won the seat.A total of 10 candidates contested the Gorakhpur by-election. Upendra Dutt Shukla is contesting the Gorakhpur by-election from the BJP. He was instrumental in the party winning huge victories in Uttar Pradesh's Purvanchal region in last year's assembly elections. The Congress fielded Suhita Chatterjee Kareem as its candidate, while the Samajwadi Party contested the Gorakhpur election with a new partnership with the BSP. Samajwadi Party also allied with the Peace Party and Nishad Party, and fielded Praveen Kumar Nishad as its candidate.The Gorakhpur seat is important for the BJP largely because it is the home turf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, a seat from where he has never lost an election since 1998 when he first contested the Lok Sabha elections. Mr Adityanath woon from Gorakhpur five consecutive times. Prior to Mr Adityanath, the seat was thrice represented in Parliament by his mentor, Yogi Avaidyanath. It is now a prestige battle for the BJP, and it is this prestige associated with the seat that would make a win for the Samajwadi Party-led opposition particularly sweet.