After the Congress, the CPI(M) and CPI(ML) have also announced their support for the Samajwadi Party in the upcoming September 5 by-election for the Ghosi assembly seat in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh. Samajwadi Party has declared former MLA Sudhakar Singh as its candidate for the by-poll to the Ghosi assembly seat.
The two Left parties said that they have taken the decision as "it is necessary to defeat the BJP to save the Constitution, democracy and the country and to get rid of the bulldozer rule in the state".
'Necessary to defeat the BJP to save the Constitution'
The CPI(M) and CPI(ML) said that they have taken the decision to support the Samajwadi Party in the by-election because "it is necessary to defeat the BJP to save the Constitution, democracy and the country and to get rid of the bulldozer rule in the state".
Communist Party of India (ML) state secretary Sudhakar Yadav, in a statement, said that both INDIA and NDA alliances will be face to face in this by-election before the 2024 general elections and it is necessary to defeat the NDA. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also issued a similar statement. Heeralal Yadav, secretary of the CPI(M), said that defeating the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is in the interest of the people of the state, democracy and the Constitution.
Ghosi was once considered a stronghold of the Left and after independence, this area was represented by Left leaders like Jai Bahadur Singh and Jharkhande Rai.
Contest between BJP and SP
The by-election, which marks the first such contest following the formation of the opposition INDIA alliance, is witnessing a contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has fielded Dara Singh Chauhan, and the Samajwadi Party, which has nominated former MLA Sudhakar Singh from the constituency.
Earlier on Saturday, Congress had decided to extend support to Samajwadi Party candidate in the upcoming Ghosi Assembly by-poll. "Samajwadi Party is a part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), therefore the Congress will support the candidate of the Samajwadi Party in the by-election to be held on September 05, 2023, under the 354-Ghosi assembly under Mau district of Uttar Pradesh and I appeal all the Congress workers to provide full cooperation to the declared Samajwadi Party candidate," state party president Ajay Rai said in a statement.
Ghosi by-poll
The Ghosi seat in Uttar Pradesh fell vacant after Samajwadi Party’s Dara Singh Chauhan resigned to join the BJP. Former SP MLA Dara Singh Chauhan returned to BJP in July this year. Chauhan had submitted his resignation to Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana on July 15. Chauhan was a cabinet minister in the previous Yogi Adityanath government but had resigned ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections and joined the SP.
The elections to the Ghosi seat will be held on September 5 and the counting of votes will take place on September 8.
(With PTI inputs)
