Yogi Adityanath will be sworn-in for a second term as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh on Friday, in a grand ceremony at Lucknow’s Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, which bears the name of former Prime Minister and late BJP stalwart Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Adityanath led the BJP to a historic win in the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the polling for which took place across seven phases in February-March. The counting of votes was held on March 10.
Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, which will begin at 4pm, here are a few things to know about Yogi Adityanath:
(1.) The UP CM-elect was born on June 5, 1972, in Pauri Garhwal, in present-day Uttarakhand, as Ajay Singh Bisht. At the age of 21, he renounced his name, and family, and became a disciple of Mahant Avaidyanath, the head priest of the Gorakhpur Math. Subsequently, he became ‘Yogi Adityanath.’
(2.) In 1998, aged just 26, Adityanath was elected to the Lok Sabha, becoming the youngest parliamentarian in the 12th Lok Sabha. Yogi contested from Gorakhpur, which elected him a further four times: 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
(3.) He was a sitting MP when, in March 2017, the BJP, following its stupendous win in that year’s assembly polls in the country’s most populous state, picked him for the top post. Jammu and Kashmir lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, then a Union minister, was the frontrunner for the CM’s office, though, eventually, the party picked Adityanath.
(4.) The recently-held elections were the first time the BJP leader contested assembly polls. He contested from Gorakhpur Urban, and won with a massive margin. Interestingly, his predecessor and primary challenger, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who fought and won from Karhal, also fought assembly elections for the first time.
(5.) Yogi Adityanath is the first, and thus far the only Uttar Pradesh chief minister to be re-elected after serving a full, five-year term. Other CMs who won a second straight term are Sampurnanand (1957), Chandrabhanu Gupta (1972), Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna (1974), and Narayan Dutt Tiwari (1985).
(6.) He is the first sitting CM, since Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2007, to contest polls. Both his predecessors, Akhilesh Yadav (2012-17) and Mayawati (2007-2012) were Members of Legislative Council (MLC). In his first term, Yogi himself was an MLC. Also, they are the only three to have completed their respective tenures.
(7.) Under Adityanath, the BJP became UP’s first government, since 1985, to be re-elected for a second consecutive term. In 2017, Yogi became the BJP’s first chief minister in the state since Rajnath Singh (October 2000-March 2002), as well as its first to complete a full term. Overall, the party has given four CMs to the state; Kalyan Singh and Ram Prakash Gupta were the first two, respectively.
