New battle lines in UP for 10 Assembly seat bypolls as NDA, INDIA step up for next bout
After the just-concluded Lok Sabha polls, the stage is now set in Uttar Pradesh for bypolls in 10 Assembly seats over the next few months. Nine MLAs, mainly from the ruling BJP as well as the principal Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP), emerged victorious from various Lok Sabha constituencies in the polls. Some of them have already resigned from the Assembly to retain their Lok Sabha seats, and the remaining would do so in the coming days.
The Sishamau Assembly seat is also going to be vacated since its SP MLA Irfan Solanki is set to lose his membership of the House after being recently sentenced to seven years imprisonment in an arson case.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav has already vacated his Karhal Assembly seat to retain the Kannauj parliamentary constituency that he won in the Lok Sabha polls, while the party’s Milkipur MLA Awadhesh Prasad has also followed suit with regard to the Faizabad (Ayodhya) parliamentary seat.
The stakes would be high for both the ruling BJP, which lost ground in UP in the Lok Sabha polls, and the Opposition INDIA bloc comprising the SP and the Congress, which seems to be resurgent in the state.
Already anticipated is an aggressive contest for Milkipur in Ayodhya, which the ruling BJP would like to wrest from the SP, having lost the Lok Sabha battle in the crucial Faizabad constituency to the SP.
The SP is considering who would be its best possible candidate from Karhal. The name of Akhilesh's nephew Tej Pratap Yadav is doing the rounds for it. Tej Pratap was initially declared as the SP's candidate from Kannauj in the Lok Sabha polls, before Akhilesh himself decided to contest from the seat.
Though until the 2022 Assembly polls, the fight on most of these bypoll seats involved the SP and the BJP (or its allies), but after its strong showing in the state in the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is now also eyeing some of them as part of the INDIA bloc. The Congress has indicated its interest in fielding its candidates in a few of these seats.
“Our first priority would be to contest these seats in alliance with the SP, as we want to take the successful alliance forward. In case it doesn't materialise, we could consider contesting alone. We would like to contest a few of these seats,” said a senior Congress leader.
At present, the main task before all parties is to quickly select their candidates for these seats in order to enhance their prospects there.
One of the key contests will take place in Karhal. Akhilesh had won the seat in 2022 by defeating BJP candidate and former SP leader S P Singh Baghel with a huge margin of about 67,000 votes. Baghel has been re-elected as BJP MP from Agra and made a Union minister by the BJP in the new party-led NDA government. It is expected to give Baghel the impetus to ensure his party's victory in this seat.
Another high-stakes contest would be for Milkipur, whose SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad has been elected as MP from Faizabad. In 2022, Prasad had defeated the BJP's Baba Gorakhnath by about 13,000 votes. Prasad belongs to the Pasi (Dalit) community.
BJP sources said that having been defeated by a Pasi candidate in Faizabad, the BJP is contemplating fielding a Pasi candidate from Milkipur Assembly bypoll.
Among the seats that would go to the bypolls is Katheri, whose SP MLA Lalji Verma has won from Ambedkarnagar Lok Sabha seat, defeating the BJP candidate and incumbent MP (from the BSP), Ritesh Pandey. Verma, a veteran parliamentarian and former BSP leader, was one of the SP's most experienced faces in the Assembly. The party now has to find a suitable replacement from the seat. The BJP’s NDA ally NISHAD party could be eyeing this seat, as its nominee Avadhesh Kumar had lost to Verma in a close fight in 2022 there. Moreover, with one of its MLAs — Vinod Kumar Bind from Majawan — being elected MP from Bhadohi Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket, the party would want to gain a seat in the Assembly.
Another Assembly seat up for bypolls is Kundarki in Moradabad, whose SP MLA Zia-ur-Rehman has now been elected as the MP from the Sambhal Lok Sabha constituency on the party’s ticket.
For the BJP, the Khair Assembly seat would also be important, as sitting MLA and state revenue minister Anoop Pradhan Valmiki has got elected from the Hathras (SC-reserved) Lok Sabha seat now. Other BJP MLAs who have won the Lok Sabha polls and would vacate their seats include Praveen Patel from the Phulpur Assembly seat, who has been elected from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency, and Atul Garg from the Ghaziabad Assembly seat, who has been elected from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency.
The bypolls would be a prestige fight for the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) as well, which had won the Meerapur Assembly seat in the 2022 polls, when it had contested in alliance with the SP, although this time, its sitting MLA Chandhan Chauhan has won the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat in alliance with the BJP. With RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary inducted into the Union ministry, the responsibility of ensuring victory on the seat would have to be borne by the party, irrespective of whether the candidate is from the RLD or the BJP.
For the latest news from across India, Political updates, Explainers, Sports News, Opinion, Entertainment Updates and more Top News, visit Indian Express. Subscribe to our award-winning Newsletter Download our App here Android & iOS