ECI announces bypolls for nine Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar addresses a press conference in New Delhi on October 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Election Commission on Tuesday (October 15, 2024) announced November 13 as the date for the bypoll for nine out of 10 vacant seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. The much-anticipated contest between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the BJP in the Milkipur reserved seat has to wait for now because of a pending election petition in the Allahabad High Court.

The seat stands vacant after the sitting MLA Awadhesh Prasad of the SP registered a famous win from Faizabad (Ayodhya) Lok Sabha seat, making a dent into the BJP’s Hindutva plank. However, a writ petition of the BJP’s Gorakhnath who lost the Assembly seat to Mr. Prasad in the 2022 polls has been pending in the High Court for the last two years. SP and Congress leaders accused the BJP of being afraid of the contest.  SP chief Akhilesh Yadav posted a cryptic comment on X: “Jisne Jung taali hai, samjho jang haari hai (the one who has deferred a battle, understand he has lost it.)“ BJP spokesperson Samir Singh said it was a constitutional matter on which the EC had to make a call. Meanwhile, Mr. Gorakhnath’s lawyer told reporters that he would withdraw the petition on Wednesday.

Out of nine seats, four were held by the Samajwadi Party, three by the Bharatiya Janata Party, one each by BJP ally Nishad Party and the SP’s former ally Rashtriya Lok Dal that switched sides to the National Democratic Alliance before the Lok Sabha polls.

Eight of these seats, except Sisamau, fell vacant after its MLAs were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha polls. In Sisamau, the bypoll is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.

Internal tussle

The bypoll has assumed as much importance as the Assembly polls in two States because according to political observers, it would reflect the consequences of the internal tussle in the ruling party and the caste calculus laid out by the SP. After the dismal performance in the Lok Sabha polls, the bypoll has become a prestige issue for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, an exam he can’t afford to flunk.

Given a free hand, while he and his acolytes are working on putting the BJP’s house in order by making a call for Hindu consolidation, the SP and the Congress would like to consolidate on the gains made by the INDIA alliance by taking forward the narrative of saving the interests of PDA and safeguarding Constitutional values.

Both camps have their share of issues to iron out. The SP has unilaterally announced candidates for five seats from the central parts of the State. It gives the impression that it wants the Congress to contest from the remaining seats in the western part of the State. However, here again, there is a tug and pull over Kundarki in Moradabad which the SP won in 2022. The Haryana Assembly result has diminished the Congress’s position to negotiate.

In the NDA camp, the RLD is negotiating hard to retain Meerapur and staking a claim on Khair or Kundarki as well. After its shift towards the BJP, the going won’t be easy for the RLD in seats with a substantial Muslim population like Meerapur. This week, BJP State president Bhupendra Chaudhary called on RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary in Delhi to arrive at a formula.

The Nishad Party is also keen on contesting from Majhawan or Katehri. Party president Sanjay Nishad said the NDA allies would work together to clear the illusion about reservation and Constitution created by the SP and the Congress in the Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party, battling for survival, has decided to go alone in the bypoll and has announced the candidates. Apart from the big fish, the Azad Samaj Party would like to build on the gains made in west Uttar Pradesh with the victory of its president Chandra Shekhar Azad in the Nagina Lok Sabha seat.