<p>Buoyed by the victory in the recently concluded urban local bodies elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has now set his eyes on the forthcoming Sikandara assembly by-election.</p>.<p>The assembly seat in Kanpur Dehat district fell vacant due to the death of sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Mathura Prasad Pal.</p>.<p>Although the BJP nominee had secured over 87,000 votes and trounced his nearest BSP nominee by over 38,000 votes, the saffron party is not taking any chances.</p>.<p>Both Adityanath and his deputy Dinesh Sharma addressed election meetings in the constituency for the party candidate Ajit Pal Singh. The two leaders promised to ensure all-round development of the constituency in their speeches.</p>.<p>Since the BSP has chosen not to field its candidate in the by-poll, Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Seema Sachan hopes to give a tough fight to the BJP. The SP had finished third in the 2017 assembly election on the seat.</p>.<p>"The absence of the BSP gives us a chance this time.....our nominee can scrape through if we can prevent split of the opposition votes," said a senior SP leader here on Sunday.</p>.<p>However, the presence of the Congress has put a dampener to the hopes of the SP. The Congress and SP had contested the 2017 assembly polls as allies and both received severe drubbing. </p>.<p>The SP leaders said the Congress should not have fielded its candidate. "It would also have been a test of the possible grand alliance in the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019," said an SP leader.</p>.<p>The by-poll is slated for December 21.</p>
<p>Buoyed by the victory in the recently concluded urban local bodies elections, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has now set his eyes on the forthcoming Sikandara assembly by-election.</p>.<p>The assembly seat in Kanpur Dehat district fell vacant due to the death of sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Mathura Prasad Pal.</p>.<p>Although the BJP nominee had secured over 87,000 votes and trounced his nearest BSP nominee by over 38,000 votes, the saffron party is not taking any chances.</p>.<p>Both Adityanath and his deputy Dinesh Sharma addressed election meetings in the constituency for the party candidate Ajit Pal Singh. The two leaders promised to ensure all-round development of the constituency in their speeches.</p>.<p>Since the BSP has chosen not to field its candidate in the by-poll, Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Seema Sachan hopes to give a tough fight to the BJP. The SP had finished third in the 2017 assembly election on the seat.</p>.<p>"The absence of the BSP gives us a chance this time.....our nominee can scrape through if we can prevent split of the opposition votes," said a senior SP leader here on Sunday.</p>.<p>However, the presence of the Congress has put a dampener to the hopes of the SP. The Congress and SP had contested the 2017 assembly polls as allies and both received severe drubbing. </p>.<p>The SP leaders said the Congress should not have fielded its candidate. "It would also have been a test of the possible grand alliance in the next Lok Sabha polls in 2019," said an SP leader.</p>.<p>The by-poll is slated for December 21.</p>