JOIN USVoting in bypolls to 1 Lok Sabha, 6 Assembly seats on December 5
Voting for by-elections for Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh and six assembly seats in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh began at 7 am on Monday.
Uttar Pradesh is geared up for three bypolls, including the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat and two Assembly seats, while four more Assembly seats go to polls—one each in Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Uttar Pradesh
In UP, a direct contest between the BJP and the Samajwadi Party-Rashtriya Lok Dal alliance is in the offing on the Mainpuri Lok Sabha, Karhal and Khatuali Vidhan Sabha seats as the Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party are sitting out these bypolls.
The SP has staked its prestige on the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypolls by fielding Dimple Yadav, the daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose demise necessitated the bypoll. Dimple's candidature marked a rapprochement between her spouse, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, and his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav.
The SP has won Mainpuri since 1996. In June, it lost its two other bastions, Rampur and Azamgarh, to the BJP. The BJP has fielded Raghuraj Singh Shakya, a former associate of Shivpal Singh. Akhilesh is an MLA from Karhal and Shivpal from Jaswantnagar, two of the five Assembly constituencies in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat.
Bypolls in western UP's Rampur Sadar and Khatauli were needed after SP MLA Azam Khan and BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini were disqualified following their conviction in different cases.
The BJP in Rampur Sadar has fielded Akash Saxena, the son of former party MLA Shiv Bahadur Saxena, against senior SP leader Azam Khan's protege Asim Raja. In Khatauli, the fight is between Saini's wife, Rajkumari, and Madan Bhaiya from the RLD. With Dalit leader Chandrashekhar Azad campaigning for the SP-RLD, the alliance believes it could get Dalit votes too.
Odisha
In Odisha's Padampur, the ruling Biju Janata Dal would try to avenge its defeat in the Dhamnagar by-poll in November, the only one it has lost of the half dozen bypolls held after 2019.
The BJD has fielded Barsha Singh Bariha, the daughter of the sitting MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh, whose death necessitated the bypoll. The BJP has raised the issue of Bariha's marriage to a non-tribal man. The highlight of the campaigning was Patnaik attacking the BJP for imposing 18 per cent GST on the Kendu leaf trade on which thousands of Padampur tribals and Dalits depend. The Congress has fielded former MLA Satya Bhusan Sahu.
Chhattisgarh
In Chhattisgarh's Maoist-hit ST reserved Bhanupratappur, the ruling Congress has fielded deceased MLA Manoj Singh Mandavi's wife, Savitri, while the BJP nominee is former MLA Brahmanand Netam. Sarva Adivasi Samaj, an umbrella body of tribal communities in Bastar, has fielded former IPS officer Akbar Ram Korram, who is contesting as an Independent.
With Assembly polls a year away, CM Bhupesh Baghel campaigned extensively. A highlight of the campaign was the allegation of rape levelled by the Congress against BJP candidate Netam lodged in Jharkhand.
Bihar
Bihar's Kurhani will witness the first electoral battle between CM Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and the BJP since the two old allies parted ways four months ago. The contest is between JD(U)'s Manoj Singh Kushwaha and BJP's Kedar Gupta, both of whom have previously won the seat for their respective parties.
The bypoll was necessitated by the disqualification of RJD MLA Anil Kumar Sahani. Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, now in Singapore, by the side of his father Lalu Prasad, who will undergo a kidney transplant on Monday, campaigned for the JDU candidate earlier this week.
The AIMIM is contesting the seat and could split the Muslim votes, which appeared to have helped the BJP in retaining Gopalganj seat about a month ago.
The BJP fears Vikassheel Insaaan Party Neelabh Kumar, a Bhumihar, could eat into its support base.