UP: BJP appoints ministers for constituencies facing by-polls

Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Uttar Pradesh, has started gearing up for assembly by-elections on 10 seats.

The BJP has appointed senior ministers to oversee the by-elections in eight of the 10 assembly segments where polls are due.

It is noteworthy that of the 10 Assembly seats bound for the upcoming by-polls, five were won by the SP in the 2022 elections, three by the BJP and one each by its NDA allies NISHAD party and RLD (an SP partner in 2022).

According to the BJP spokesman, the party has appointed two ministers Swatantra Dev Singh and Ashish Patel (Apna Dal-S) for the Katehri assembly by-elections.

The Katehri assembly seat in Ambedkar Nagar district was declared vacant after its sitting SP MLA Lalji Verma got elected to the Lok Sabha from Ambedkar Nagar.

This seat has been either with the BSP or the SP since the nineties. While the BSP has a strong presence in this area, its candidate was pushed to third place in the Lok Sabha elections.

This has given an edge to the SP in the by-election now. The SP is again hoping to attract the votes of a significant section of the Scheduled Castes with support from the Congress, which was seen in the Lok Sabha polls too.

For the Karhal assembly seat, the BJP has appointed Minister Jaiveer Singh. Jaiveer Singh was defeated in the recent Lok Sabha elections from Mainpuri, of which Karhal is an assembly segment.

The Karhal seat in Mainpuri district was won by Akhilesh Yadav in the 2022 polls. Karhal has been a stronghold of the SP, which has been winning it since the early 1990s.

In the Milkipur assembly seat -- a part of the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat -- UP Minister Surya Pratap Shahi has been appointed to ensure the victory of the BJP after its defeat here in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Milkipur Assembly seat in Ayodhya district has fallen vacant as its SP MLA Awadhesh Prasad, has been elected as the Faizabad (Ayodhya) MP in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Milkipur by-poll is thus set to be a prestige fight between the BJP and the SP, which has been going all-out now to promote Avadhesh Prasad, who belongs to the Pasi (Dalit) community.

The BJP has already started working on its plan to wrest the seat in a bid to re-establish its dominance in the crucial belt.

UP minister Anil Kumar has been given charge of the Meerapur assembly seat in Muzaffarnagar district which comes under the Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency.

In 2022, RLD’s Chandan Chauhan won the seat in a close fight with the BJP’s Prashant Chaudhary. In the 2017 and 2012 assembly elections, the seat was won by the BJP and the BSP candidates respectively.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, RLD MLA Chandan Chauhan won from the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat, defeating Deepak Saini of the SP by about 37,000 votes. While the Congress is eyeing Meerapur, the SP is also making a claim on this seat in light of its recent performance but the BJP is determined to retain the seat, though the RLD is also eyeing the same.

Senior UP minister Suresh Khanna has been given charge of the Sishamau seat in Kanpur district that has been vacated following the disqualification of its SP MLA Irfan Solanki after he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in an arson case.

The Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency has been won by the BJP in a close contest with the Congress. This has given hope to the Congress to make its claim on the Sishamau seat. On its part, the BJP, which has a strong footprint in the region, has also been looking to clinch the assembly by-poll on the seat.

In Phulpur, the BJP has appointed senior minister Rakesh Sachan as in-charge.

The sitting BJP MLA from the Phulpur seat in Prayagraj district, Praveen Patel, has now been elected on the BJP ticket from the Phulpur Lok Sabha constituency.

SP candidate Amarnath Maurya lost to Praveen in the Lok Sabha elections by just about 4,000 votes. The SP is keen to cover lost ground while the BJP is confident to retain this seat.

UP minister Anil Rajbhar has been given charge of the Manjhwa seat in Mirzapur district.

The Manjhwa seat in Mirzapur district has been vacated as its sitting MLA from the Nishad party, Vinod Kumar Bind, has now won from the Bhadohi Lok Sabha constituency on the BJP ticket.

The BJP is determined to win this seat.

UP minister Sunil Sharma has been appointed in charge of the Ghaziabad seat that was declared vacant after its sitting MLA from the BJP, Atul Garg, got elected from the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency on the party’s ticket.

Atul has won the Ghaziabad Lok Sabha constituency defeating Dolly Sharma of the Congress. The constituency has been a BJP bastion as it had been won by Rajnath Singh and V K Singh in the past.

While the BJP is scaling up attempts to retain Ghaziabad Sadar, the Congress is hoping to get the seat allotted by the SP for its candidate, pointing to its support base here.

The BJP is yet to appoint ministers in charge of the Khair assembly seat in Aligarh and Kundarki in the Sambhal district.

The Khair assembly seat became vacant after UP minister Anoop Valmiki won the Hapur Lok Sabha seat. The Kundarki seat is facing bypolls because its MLA Zia-ur-Rehman Barq is now a Lok Sabha member from Sambhal.