A total of 90 candidates are in the fray in the by-elections of Katehari of Ambedkar Nagar, Karhal of Mainpuri, Meerapur of Muzaffarnagar, Majhwan of Ghaziabad, Mirzapur, Sisamau of Kanpur Nagar, Khair of Aligarh, Phulpur of Prayagraj and Kundarki seat of Moradabad.
The campaign for the by-elections on nine assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh ended at 6 pm on Monday. Voting on all these seats will be held on November 20. Although BSP, Chandrashekhar’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), Owaisi’s AIMIM, RLD have also fielded candidates in this by-election, the main contest is between BJP and Samajwadi Party. Congress is not contesting the by-elections and is supporting SP.
In the by-election campaign, several senior leaders of the ruling BJP, including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, campaigned extensively for the party candidates. At the same time, senior leaders including opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and party MP from Mainpuri Dimple Yadav sought votes for their party’s candidates. On behalf of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), state unit president Vishwanath Pal campaigned for the party candidates. Congress has not fielded its candidates in the by-elections and has supported SP.
A total of 90 candidates are in the fray in the by-elections of Katehari in Ambedkar Nagar, Karhal in Mainpuri, Meerapur in Muzaffarnagar, Majhwan in Ghaziabad, Mirzapur, Sisamau in Kanpur Nagar, Khair in Aligarh, Phulpur in Prayagraj and Kundarki seat in Moradabad. Maximum 14 candidates are in the fray from Ghaziabad assembly constituency. At the same time, at least five candidates each are trying their luck on Khair (safe) and Sisamau seats. Voting on these seats will be held on November 20. The counting of votes will be done on November 23.
On the last day of campaign i.e. on Monday, Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary, SP chief and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) President Chandrashekhar sought votes for his respective candidates.
Out of the nine assembly seats where by-elections are being held in the state, the MLAs of eight had resigned from the membership of the assembly after being elected to the Lok Sabha in the general elections this year, while the Sisamau seat SP MLA Irfan Solanki has been booked in a criminal case. Vacancy due to disqualification from membership of Legislative Assembly after conviction.
In the 2022 assembly elections, SP had won Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki seats, while BJP had won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhwan and Khair. Meerapur seat was held by Rashtriya Lok Dal, which is now an ally of BJP. Congress is not contesting the by-elections and is supporting its ‘India’ alliance partner SP. Bahujan Samaj Party is contesting all the nine seats on its own. Owaisi’s AIMIM has fielded candidates on Ghaziabad, Kundarki and Meerapur seats while Chandrashekhar’s Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram) has fielded candidates on all seats except Sisamau.
On November 10, during the election campaign, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had given a new definition to the Samajwadi Party’s slogan ‘PDA’ (Backward, Dalit and Minority), calling it a ‘production house of rioters and criminals’. He had also said that the ‘CEO’ of this production house is Akhilesh Yadav and its ‘trainer’ is Shivpal Yadav, while all the criminals are ‘business partners’ in the party.
Countering this, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav fiercely targeted the government while demanding answers on the supply of fertilizers to farmers. Addressing an election rally in Katehari on Sunday, the SP chief said that after the by-elections on nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and BJP’s defeat in the Maharashtra assembly elections, Chief Minister Adityanath’s chair will be snatched away. Akhilesh also alleged, “Adityanath is spreading hatred in the society. People from his own party are digging a ‘tunnel’ till his (Yogi Adityanath’s) chair to remove him.”
Meanwhile, regarding Chief Minister Adityanath’s slogan ‘Batenge to Katenge’, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Sunday called it a call for unity and asked why the opposition is having stomach ache over the slogan. The opposition is particularly attacking Adityanath regarding this slogan which is often used during the election campaign. SP and Congress are calling it a communal statement. Many BJP leaders from other states were also seen avoiding Yogi’s slogan.
