These 6 seats hold the key to CM's chair in UP

The road to Uttar Pradesh chief minister's office runs through six districts in the Awadh region of the state, namely Lucknow, Sitapur, Unnao, Hardoi, Rae Bareli and Barabanki. Ever since the 1996 assembly election, the party or alliance that has won majority of seats in the 38 assembly segments in these central UP districts has formed government in the state. Here's an analysis. (TOI Photo)

In 1996, Congress and BSP contested together, won 33 and 67 seats in a hung assembly. In this core Awadh region, though, together they won only 12 of 38 seats. Months later, BJP and BSP came together to form government. Their combined tally in these six districts was 19 seats out of a total 38. (TOI Photo)

The 2002 assembly election also threw up a hung assembly with Samajwadi Party emerging as the single-largest party by winning 143 seats. The party's tally in the Awadh region, however, was 14. The BSP-BJP combine, which won 186 seats, finally formed the government. Their tally in the six central UP districts was 21. (AFP Photo)

The 2007 election proved to be lucky for BSP which won 15 seats in the Awadh region, the highest for any single party. The Samajwadi Party lost ground for the first time in this region and its tally reduced to just 12 seats. The BSP was able to form the government in UP, catapulting Mawaya to the chief minister's chair for the fourth time. (PTI Photo)

In the 2012 election, the Samajwadi Party swept the state as well as the Awadh region. It won 224 of the 403 seats and 29 out of 38 in the Awadh region. The BSP was down to just five. (TOI Photo)