Lucknow, Oct 20 (UNI) Campaigning has accelerated for 7 assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh slated to be a semi-final before the 2022 assembly polls in the state.
The polling will be held on November 3 in these 7 assembly seats where results would be announced on November 10.

The ruling BJP which has a higher stake in this bypolls, has gone all out in this bypolls by holding several virtual and physical rallies with state chief minister Yogi Adityanath leading from the front.

Though no such union ministers or senior central BJP leaders are expected to campaign in UP due to be engagement in Bihar polls, the state BJP leadership was taking all the pain to woo the voters while the state ministers have been asked to camp in these 7 assembly segments.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had virtually addressed the booth-level party workers in these 7 assembly constituencies, while BJP state president Swantra Deo Singh was physically attending the election meetings.

On the other hand, the opposition, Samajwadi Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party are relying on their local and state leaders to campaign in these seats.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP president Mayawati along with Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have kept themselves aloof from the campaigning and have entrusted their lower rank leaders to lead the electioneering.

Meanwhile, UP BJP vice-president Vijay Bahadur Pathak claimed that the party candidates will win all the 7 seats.

"The BJP electioneering is a well-oiled campaign during the lockdown too and under the leadership of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the party candidates will get landslide support from the masses," Mr Pathak said here on Tuesday while claiming that the welfare and development work along with the health facilities provided during the pandemic too have given the BJP government in the state to shut the voice of the opposition.

He said that the opposition candidates are nowhere near the BJP nominees in the elections and the result will show the popularity of the BJP and its policies in the state.

However, the opposition has other words to say with claiming that increasing law and order problem and corruption would dampen the BJP's poll prospect.
SP spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury said here that people are fed up with the misrule of the BJP government and the bypolls result will showcase it.

UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu too said that Congress candidates will lead the opposition camp and in several seats, party candidates will be the ultimate winner.
BSP leader Lalji Verma, too said that party candidates have an edge against others in most of the seats. BSP is for the second time contesting the by-elections in the state.

Except for the Malhani assembly seat in Jaunpur district, all the remaining 6 seats were of the BJP, hence all the stake is of the ruling party in this elections.

Altogether there are 88 candidates in the fray for these 7 seats where the nomination process ended on Monday. The Bulandshahr seat has the highest number of 18 candidates while the Ghatampur (reserved) seat has the lowest of 6.

According to the seat wise details, BJP has given a ticket to Manoj Singh as its candidate for the Malhani seat in Jaunpur. M Singh has been a leader of Allahabad University Students' Union. While the largest opposition party- Samajwadi Party has fielded Lucky Yadav, whose father Parasnath Yadav had won the 2017 assembly polls, but due to his sudden demise, the seat is now undergoing a by-election.

Bahujan Samaj Party has given the ticket to Jai Prakash, while Congress has made Rakesh Mishra their candidate for the seat. Meanwhile, strongman and former Member of Parliament Dhananjay Singh have filed nomination as an independent candidate.

The Bangarmau seat in the Unnao district fell vacant after BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in a rape case. Now BJP has fielded Shrikant Katiyar from this seat, while SP has fielded Suresh Kumar Pal and BSP has given the ticket to Mahesh Prasad. Congress has declared Ms Aarti Bajpai as their candidate from the same seat. Ms Bajpai is from the family of late Umashaker Dikshit, who was the minister in the Jawahar Lal Nehru cabinet.

The former BJP MLA Sengar is said to enjoy clout on this seat but this time fielding someone not related to Sengar or his family would be the real litmus test for BJP in retaining this seat into its kitty.

The Tundla seat in Ferozabad district fell vacant after SP Singh Baghel was elected as an MP in 2019 from BJP following which the incumbent party has fielded Prempal Dhangar as their candidate. The Samajwadi Party has fielded Maharaj Singh Dhangar, while Sanjeev Kumar Chak has been fielded from BSP and Sneha Lata has been fielded from Congress.

Due to the sudden death of BJP minister Kamalrani Varun due to Covid-19, the Ghatampur assembly seat fell vacant. Now, BJP has fielded Upendra Kushwaha on this seat while SP has made Indrajit Katori their candidate. The BSP has fielded Kuldeep Kumar from this seat while Congress has shown confidence in Kripa Shankar.

The Naugaon Sadat assembly seat had fallen vacant after the demise of UP Minister and Indian cricketer Chetan Chauhan due to coronavirus. Now the BJP has fielded the wife of the late minister, Sangeeta Chauhan from this seat. She would be facing competition from SP’s Syed Jawed Abbas and BSP’s Furqan Ahmad. The Congress party has fielded Kamlesh Singh as their candidate for this seat.

The by-election is being held on the Bulandshahr seat due to the death of BJP's Virendra Singh Sirohi. The BJP has nominated Usha Sirohi, wife of the late minister for this seat. SP has not fielded any candidate from this seat but has left the seat for its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal. RLD has fielded Praveen Singh from this seat, while the BSP has given the ticket to Mohammad Yunus and Congress has given the ticket to Sushil Chaudhary from this seat.

On the Deoria assembly seat, the by-election is being held due to the demise of BJP MLA Janmejaya Singh. The party has now given the ticket to Satya Prakash Mani- a professor in the Department of Political Science at Sant Vinoba PG College. SP has declared Brahmashankar Tripathi as their candidate, BSP has fielded Abhayanath Tripathi while the Congress has given the ticket to Mukund Bhaskar Mani Tripathi.

In the Deoria seat, BJP is facing a rebellion, when Ajay Singh, son of the deceased BJP MLA Janmejaya Singh is contesting as an independent after being denied ticket by the party.
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