Alongside Bihar polls & MP by-polls, UP too gearing up for by-polls for 8 seats

Lucknow: Political parties in Uttar Pradesh have started gearing up for mini-elections when bypolls to 8 assembly seats are expected to be held very soon along with the Bihar assembly polls.

Even as BJP has started booth level meeting after announcement of its new state committee and revamping its organisation, the opposition on other hand have started to show their strength by holding issue based protest.

The opposition were pitted against each other more than fighting against the BJP in UP and they were trying to  attract the voters by raising the people based issues only through social media and thus avoiding to come before the people.

Unemployment, economic slowdown due to pandemic, law and order issues along with farmers and common people matters are the main agenda of the opposition while the ruling BJP was focusing on its works done in providing free ration and other things during the pandemic, Ram temple, developmental works in the state.  

However, the issue of Brahmin atrocities during this BJP regime could also become a major issue to be raised by the opposition.

BJP president Swantra Deo Singh said here on Friday, that the party has started preparation long back for this bypolls  and already booth committees have been formed where the bypolls are slated.

BJP State Vice President Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, "The BJP government and organizations are continuously working, while the opposition is doing the politics of Twitter. The opposition's job is to criticize, they are doing just that. Be it the matter of giving money to the poor in their bank account or sending money to the account of the farmers or even giving food to the poor, the BJP has been constantly communicating with the people even during the coronavirus pandemic."

"We are in constant touch with the workers through digital medium and we are updated on the public's needs. We are still training our workers on how to take care of the public's interest and work. In such a situation, the public understands everything and we are preparing to win the by-election," he said.

But on the other hand, the opposition were yet to make any preparation at the ground level but were vesting on to garner the anti-BJP votes due to unemployment and other issues, for their success in the bypolls.

SP spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury said here that the party was gearing up for the bypolls and as the dates are announced the party will be seen in the field.

Congress too have started the preliminary preparation for the bypolls. The BSP was yet to announce if they will contest the bypolls or not.

UP Congress Committee Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu has also been working on ground in many different regions in the state.At the same time, UP in-charge and AICC general secretary Priyanka Gandhi is constantly making her presence felt by tweeting on various incidents from Uttar Pradesh

But the recent joining of hands of Congress with SP for highlightning the unemployment issues in UP has started giving a signal that both the parties could go for understanding for the bypolls under the table.

Out of the eight assembly seats which will go through bypolls in UP, six are in the possession of Bharatiya Janata Party and two are held by Samajwadi Party.

Though the results of these eight seats will not affect the majority in the assembly, there will be a big political message for the upcoming assembly elections. 

Among the assembly seats where the bypolls will be held were,the Tundla seat of Firozabad got vacant after the resignation of BJP's SP Baghel after being elected as MP.

Abdullah Azam, son of Samajwadi Party MP Mohammad Azam Khan, won from Swar seat of Rampur, but his membership was cancelled by the High Court after the dispute related to his date of birth.

Meanwhile, BJP's Kuldeep Singh Sengar's seat Bangarmau of Unnao has been vacant since his membership was cancelled after he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Unnao rape case. Apart from this, after the demise of Parasnath Yadav of Samajwadi Party, the Malhani assembly seat of Jaunpur fell vacant. The seats of BJP's Janmejaya Singh from Deoria Sadar and Virender Sirohi from Bulandshahar are also vacant due to their deaths, while Ghatampur seat of Kanpur has been vacant since the death of BJP's Kamal Rani Varun who recently died after being positive for Covid-19 infection.The Naagwaman seat in Amroha went vacant after BJP's Chetan Chauhan died due to coronavirus infection.(UNI)