JOIN USSP-BJP locked in straight contest in Uttar Pradesh bypolls
The ruling BJP and archrival Samajwadi Party (SP) are locked in a straight contest in the forthcoming bypolls to two assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat, campaigning for which came to an end on Saturday.
Polling in Mainpuri LS seat and Rampur and Khatauli Assembly constituencies will be held on Monday. Congress and BSP have not fielded their candidates in the bypolls.
Though result of the bypolls will in no way affect the state government, it does have political significance. On one hand, it will test the saffron party in the 'Jatland' in the western UP region, and on the other, it will reveal if SP president Akhilesh Yadav is able to save the family citadel of Mainpuri and the party's stronghold of Rampur.
The electoral battle in Mainpuri has assumed added significance as the seat was held by late SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav. Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav is the SP nominee from the seat.
The BJP has fielded Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a former protege of Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav. The saffron party which was hoping to cash in on the feud between Akhilesh and Shivpal was jolted after the two agreed to bury the hatchet to save the family bastion. Dimple also held a roadshow in Jaswant Nagar assembly segment of Mainpuri seat Saturday.
The contest in Khatauli assembly constituency in a communally sensitive Muzaffarnagar district is between the BJP and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has an electoral alliance with the SP. Dalit leader and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar has also lent support to the SP-RLD alliance triggering apprehensions in the BJP camp that a chunk of Dalit votes might go to the RLD nominee as BSP was in the fray.
The electoral battle in Rampur, which was a stronghold of firebrand SP leader Azam Khan, has also turned into a prestige battle for the SP. It has gone all out to woo the electorate in the assembly constituency. The result of the Rampur bypoll will certainly have a bearing on the political stature of Azam, who faces scores of criminal cases and was released from prison on bail barely a few days ago.