GG News Bureau
Lucknow, 26th Oct. Seventy-eight candidates filed their nomination papers for the Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls on Friday, bringing the total number of contestants for the nine seats to 149. Friday marked the last day for filing nominations.
According to the Election Commission (EC), scrutiny of the nomination papers will take place on October 28, with the deadline for withdrawal of candidatures set for October 30. Voting is scheduled for November 13, followed by the counting of votes on November 23.
The EC announced the bypolls on October 15, excluding the Milkipur (Ayodhya) seat due to an ongoing court case. The nine seats where bypolls will be held include Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sishamau (Kanpur city), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj), and Kundarki (Moradabad).
Eight of these seats became vacant after the sitting MLAs were elected as Members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha polls. The Sishamau seat’s by-election was prompted by the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki following his conviction in a criminal case.
In the 2022 assembly elections, the Sishamau, Katehari, Karhal, Milkipur, and Kundarki seats were held by the Samajwadi Party (SP), while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, and Khair seats. The Meerapur seat was under the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).
On Thursday, the ruling BJP announced its candidates for eight of the nine assembly seats, reserving one seat for its ally, the RLD. Meanwhile, the Congress party has declared that it will not field candidates in the bypolls but will work to ensure the victory of SP candidates or those from other INDIA bloc parties. This announcement follows SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s statement that all INDIA bloc candidates would contest the bypolls using the ‘cycle’ election symbol associated with his party.
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