Yogi Adityanath holds key meeting on upcoming bypolls, shifts focus to constituency-level preparations
Uttar Pradesh bypolls: The 9 assembly seats where bypolls will be held are Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Kundarki, Phulpur, Sisamau, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair.
Uttar Pradesh bypolls: Ahead of the by-elections in the state, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a meeting with senior officials at his residence in Lucknow today (October 19).
During the meeting, CM Yogi announced that no further meetings regarding the bypolls would be held in Lucknow. "All future meetings will now take place in the constituencies where the bypolls are being held. These meetings will involve district presidents and other party leaders," he added. The Chief Minister also directed all in-charge ministers to visit their respective constituencies and review the preparations. He stressed the need to activate booth presidents, booth workers, and panna pramukhs (voter list page in-charges).
During today's meeting, the preparations made so far were reviewed. The names of the candidates are expected to be announced either today (October 19) or tomorrow (Sunday). For each seat, a panel of three candidates' names has been sent to Delhi for final approval.
It is confirmed that BJP ally RLD will be given one seat, but whether the Nishad Party will be allotted a seat remains uncertain. The BJP considers three constituencies – Karhal, Kundarki, and Sisamau – as particularly challenging out of the total nine seats, as per the information.
The Election Commission on October 15 announced that bypolls to nine of the 10 vacant assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Milkipur of Ayodhya district, will be held on November 13 (Wednesday). The counting of votes will take place on November 23 (Saturday). The bypoll to the Milkipur assembly seat was not announced as an election petition is pending in the high court against the candidate who had won the seat earlier.
BJP likely to announce candidates soon
BJP may soon announce candidates list for the by-elections to be held on nine seats in UP. CM Yogi called a big meeting regarding the bypolls in which Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Brajesh Pathak, UP BJP President Bhupendra Chaudhary, and other senior ministers were present.
After a poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections, BJP has put all its strength in these by-elections and has been preparing for bypolls since June. CM Yogi Adityanath has appointed a team of 30 ministers for the preparations of by-elections. The Deputy CMs are also handling the responsibility of two seats each. Yogi Adityanath is looking after the Milkipur seat of Ayodhya and the Katehari seat of Ambedkar Nagar. BJP is trying its best to win as many seats as possible.
Out of these nine seats, BJP is considering two seats as difficult. Karhal seat has fallen vacant after Akhilesh Yadav became MP from Kannauj. Karhal is an assembly seat of Mainpuri which is considered to be the stronghold of the Yadav family. This Yadav-dominated seat has been continuously occupied by SP since 1993.
The second difficult seat for BJP is Kundarki in Moradabad. SP's Zia-ur-Rehman became MLA in Kundarki in the 2022 assembly elections and now he has become MP from Sambhal.
BJP had won Kundarki assembly seat only once in 1993. Muslim votes on this seat are about 65 percent and Hindu votes are only 35 percent. Now, some leaders in BJP say that when Danish Ansari can become a minister in the Yogi government, Mohsin Raja can be BJP's MLC, then why can't there be a Muslim candidate in Kundarki. But at present BJP is not ready to field a Muslim candidate. Of the nine seats on which by-elections are to be held in 2022, Samajwadi Party won four, BJP three, RLD one and Nishad Party one.
The assembly seats where byelections will be held are-
- Katehari
- Karhal
- Meerapur
- Kundarki
- Phulpur
- Sisamau
- Ghaziabad
- Majhawan
- Kahir
Eight of these assembly seats fell vacant after its MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha, while bypoll in Sisamau is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.
In the 2022 assembly polls, Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal, Milkipur and Kundarki were held by the SP, while the BJP had won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Kahir. The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD.
Karhal seat fell vacant after SP chief Yadav was elected from Kannauj as MP, Katehari fell vacant following the election of party's Lalji Verma to the Lok Sabha from Ambedkar Nagar. SP leader Awadhesh Prasad's election to the Lok Sabha from Faizabad (Ayodhya) led to his resignation from Milkipur seat, while SP leader Zia ur Rahman Barq's Kundarki assembly seat in Moradabad has fallen vacant following his election to the Sambhal Lok Sabha seat.
Chandan Chauhan of Rashtriya Lok Dal resigned from his Meerapur assembly seat of Muzaffarnagar following his election to Lok Sabha from Bijnor. Similarly, the Ghaziabad assembly seat fell vacant after BJP's Atul Garg was elected to the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha seat.
BJP's Vinod Kumar Bind resigned from his Majhawan assembly seat of Mirzapur following his election to Lok Sabha from Bhadohi, while party leader Anoop Singh alias Anoop Pradhan Balmiki left Khair assembly seat of Aligarh following his election from Hathras Lok Sabha seat.
BJP's Praveen Patel resigned from Phulpur assembly seat of Prayagraj following his election to the Lok Sabha from Phulpur. In the 2022 assembly elections, out of these 10 seats, the BJP had given Majhawan and Katehri to the ally Nishad Party, which won in Majhawan but lost in Katehari.
The Samajwadi Party has already announced the names for six assembly seats, including Karhal (Mainpuri), Sisamau (Kanpur Nagar), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Katehari (Ambedkarnagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Majhawan (Mirzapur).
CM Yogi becomes BJP's active member
Meanwhile, UP CM Yogi Adityanath became an active member of the BJP as the party's membership campaign began today.
UP Deputy CM KP Maurya joins BJP's membership drive
“The country’s biggest party BJP had initiated the membership drive. First, normal membership takes place then active membership. PM Modi became the first active member. Today, CM Yogi Adityanath took the active membership and now I have also taken the membership,” said Uttar Pradesh Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.