The upcoming by-elections to 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be a battle for prestige for the Bharatiya Janata Party. After the setback it faced at the hands of the Samajwadi Party in the Lok Sabha elections, the party is not leaving any stone unturned to ensure a victory.
The party’s state unit has already shortlisted candidates for the upcoming by-polls and could soon send the list to the central leadership for its go-ahead. The dates for the by-elections are yet to be announced by the Election Commission of India.
The process, which has gained momentum within the BJP after the party’s victory in the Haryana elections, has left its UP alliance partner NISHAD party on the edge.
A report in The Indian Express suggests that the BJP may not be willing to cede more than 1 seat to allies. While one is likely to be set aside for Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal, the party wants the NISHAD party to contest one seat under the BJP symbol.
“One seat will be given to the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). A decision on the NISHAD Party has not been taken yet but we hope its candidate will contest on our symbol,” IE quoted a BJP insider as saying.
The proposal, however, has left the NISHAD party on the edge. Party leader Sanjay Nishad said the BJP had not yet held meetings with allies and that his party wants to contest elections from 2 seats.
“I will most likely meet Union Home Minister (Amit Shah) in the next few days. Till something is communicated to us, we remain confident of contesting two seats, Majhawan and Katehari,” he said.
Notably, Majhawan MLA Vinod Bind contested the recent Lok Sabha elections from Bhadohi on a BJP ticket and won, a fact the party claims is testament to its popularity in the Assembly segment. “The Majhawan seat must remain with us and a NISHAD Party candidate can contest on our symbol,” a BJP leader said.
The NISHAD Party, however, maintains its claim to contesting two seats under its own banner arguing that seats such as Katehari, Phulpur, and Milkipur have a sizable Nishad vote that the BJP will find difficult to win without it. The Katehari Assembly seat has seen Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) emerge as winners for 30 years.
“The BJP cannot stake claim to the Katehari Assembly seat as it has never won from here. Moreover, to boost the morale of our workers in other seats, it is important that our candidates contest on our symbol and we hope the BJP understands this,” said Sanjay Nishad.
The 10 seats heading into polls include Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Khair, Kundarki, Karhal, Phulpur, Sishamau, Milkipur, Katheri and Majhawan. Bypolls in nine of them were necessitated after the MLAs won the Lok Sabha elections. One seat – Sisamau – fell vacant after its sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki was disqualified after being convicted in a 2022 arson case.
In the Assembly election held in 2022, the Samajwadi Party won five of the 10 seats where polling is expected soon. The BJP won 3 seats while the NISHAD Party and the RLD bagged one seat each.
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