“A number of works can be cited through which the Yogi Adityanath government has extended every facility to the people of the state and of Unnao,” he said, adding that the most important aspect to consider is that he is available round the clock for the people of the constituency. The entry of another debutant, 31-year-old Abhinav Kumar, an MBBS and son of three-time MLA Deepak Kumar, as the Samajwadi Party candidate has made the contest interesting.

Kumar claimed he has a clear vision of the improvement required in the constituency, and that it was his responsibility to take care of his family’s legacy. “My grandfather, Manohar Lal, had been the MLA from Unnao Sadar many times. My uncle, Ramkumar, also contested once from this assembly seat. My father, Deepak Kumar, had been the MLA from this seat thrice. After the death of my parents, it is my responsibility now to take care of my family’s legacy, and I am fully prepared to take care of it,” he said.

Given a choice, Abhinav Kumar said, he would want to study further but the death of both his parents has led him into politics. “All the development work you are seeing in Unnao city today has been done by my father Deepak Kumar,” he added.

In keeping with his vocation, he wants to strengthen the medical services here after winning the election. The trauma centre set up here during the Samajwadi Party government has not become fully operational despite accidents taking place on the Lucknow-Kanpur highway on a daily basis, the SP candidate said. Creating jobs and resolving problems of stray cattle are also among his priorities.

The Unnao Sadar seat, which has been with the BJP since the past two elections, was once considered a Samajwadi Party stronghold. But in the by-election in 2014 after the death of the then sitting MLA Deepak Kumar, his wife Manisha Deepak lost to BJP’s Pankaj Gupta.