Considered a curtain-raiser for the 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, the upcoming bypolls in the state are all set to be a fiercely contested affair. Though the Election Commission of India (ECI) is yet to announce the schedule, the political parties in UP don’t want to take any chances. Not only have they ramped up their campaigns but are also out with fresh strategies to grab maximum seats in the bypolls.
Of the ten assembly seats that will have voting, nine fell vacant after their MLAs, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, were elected to the Lok Sabha in recent elections. One seat fell vacant after the SP MLA from Sisamau (Kanpur), Irfan Solanki, was convicted in a criminal case and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
As part of preparations, the Yogi Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party government, which saw its Lok Sabha tally drop from 62 in 2019 to 33 this year, has already pressed in a team of more than 30 ministers to oversee the poll readiness for the assembly seats. Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party has also announced that it will contest on all 10 seats. INDIA allies Samajwadi Party and Congress have also commenced deliberations over seat-sharing.
“In a recent meeting aimed to chalk out the strategy for the upcoming by-elections, with the UP chief minister and top BJP leaders participating, the party has decided to deploy around 30 ministers and 15 senior leaders to ensure a victory,” a party insider revealed.
CM Yogi Adityanath has not only assigned specific constituencies to his ministers but has also directed them to camp in these areas, listen to the concerns of the people, and actively promote the welfare schemes and development work carried out by the BJP government. This approach is designed to ensure that the party’s achievements are well communicated to the electorate, maximizing the chances of success in the elections.
Jal Shakti minister Swatantra Dev Singh and technical education minister Ashish Patel, representing BJP’s ally Apna Dal (Soneylal), have been tasked with overseeing Katehari, a Kurmi-dominated constituency in Ambedkar Nagar.
Finance minister Suresh Khanna has been appointed to Sisamau in Kanpur, while agriculture minister Surya Pratap Shahi and minister of state Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh will manage Milkipur in Ayodhya. In Karhal, Mainpuri, tourism minister Jaiveer Singh has been assigned responsibility, and in Phulpur, Prayagraj, MSME minister Rakesh Sachan and MLA Daya Shankar Singh will take charge.
Labour welfare minister Anil Rajbhar and Sanjay Nishad, president of the NISHAD Party, will oversee Majhwan in Mirzapur. In Ghaziabad, cabinet minister Sunil Sharma has been appointed, while minister and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Anil Kumar and minister of state Somendra Tomar will handle Meerapur.
Livestock minister Dharampal Singh and cooperative minister JPS Rathore have been given the command of Kundarki in Sambhal, and in Khair, Aligarh, sugarcane development minister Chaudhary Lakshminarayan will lead the efforts. These assignments highlight the BJP’s comprehensive and targeted approach to ensuring electoral success in these critical bypolls.
UP’s political analysts say the gruelling pre-poll exercises will be both a challenge and an opportunity for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which is trying hard to overcome the unexpected setback it suffered in the recent Lok Sabha elections in the state.
“We have already activated all our organisational units at various levels and assigned duties to the in-charge ministers for each assembly constituency. We would surely win all the 10 assembly seats in the upcoming by-elections,” said Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, BJP state president.
In the INDIA bloc, the SP has already announced in-charges for six out of the ten assembly seats. Shivpal Singh Yadav, the party’s national general secretary, will oversee the campaign in Katehari, while Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad and leader of opposition in the UP legislative council Lal Bihari Yadav will handle Milkipur. MP Virendra Singh has been assigned Majhwa, former minister Chandradev Yadav will manage Karhal, party national general secretary and MLA Indrajeet Saroj will oversee Phulpur, and MLA Rajendra Kumar will be in charge of Sisamau. These strategic appointments reflect the SP’s focused approach as it prepares to contest the bypolls in alliance with Congress, setting the stage for a significant political contest in Uttar Pradesh.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), in a shift from its traditional stance of not contesting bypolls, has announced it will field candidates in all ten seats, making the contest a three-cornered battle. BSP leader Mayawati has reinstated her nephew Akash Anand as the party’s national coordinator, with him leading the bypoll campaign. In a statement, the BSP noted, “The date of the bypolls for the 10 Vidhan Sabha segments that fell vacant in Uttar Pradesh has not been officially announced yet, but the excitement surrounding the elections is continually rising. The people’s interest in these bypolls has increased significantly as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is making the election a prestige issue. In light of it, the BSP has also decided to field its candidates in all the seats and fight the elections.”
The assembly seats for which bypolls will be conducted are Karhal (Mainpuri), Khair (Aligarh), Kundarki (Moradabad), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Milkipur (Ayodhya), and Sisamau (Kanpur).
Five of these seats—Karhal, Kundarki, Katehari, Milkipur, and Sisamau—were held by the SP, while the BJP held three—Khair, Phulpur, and Ghaziabad—and its allies NISHAD Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) won Majhawan and Meerapur.
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