After Cong loss in Haryana, SP announces candidates for UP bypolls in surprise move

Lucknow: The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday announced six candidates for the impending by-elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The sudden announcement of SP nominees has taken many by surprise as the dates for by-elections in the state are yet to be announced.

Those who will contest the bypolls on SP ticket include Tej Pratap Yadav from Karhal Assembly constituency, Naseem Solanki from Sisamau, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur, Ajit Prasad from Milkipur, Shobhawati Verma from Katehari, and Jyoti Bind from Majhwan.

The by-elections to 9 out of 10 were necessitated after the election of sitting MLAs to Lok Sabha while the Sisamau seat in Kanpur fell vacant due to the disqualification of sitting SP MLA Hazi Irfan Solanki, after he was held guilty and sentenced to seven-year imprisonment in a criminal case by the MP/MLA court.

The announcement of SP candidates comes amid a stalemate between Congress and SP over seat-sharing talks for the bypolls, slated towards the end of the year. The INDIA bloc apparently failed to reach a consensus as Congress wanted five seats to contest while the SP, buoyed by its recent performance in LS polls offered it only 2-3 seats.

The bypolls in 10 assembly seats will be a litmus test for the INDIA bloc's unity, especially on the back of the latest setback in the Haryana elections. The Jat-dominated state, with a decade of anti-incumbency, voted the BJP back to power for a record third time. The Congress refused to strike an alliance with AAP and experts consider it as the key reason for BJP returning to power in Haryana.

For the UP bypolls, the BJP has also set up a panel for finalising its candidates for ten seats as it’s a prestige battle for it, after facing a debacle in Lok Sabha elections. Out of these ten seats going to bypolls, the ruling BJP held three while its allies the Nishad Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal had one seat each. The rest of the five seats had SP MLAs.

The dates for these by-elections are expected to be announced soon.