Lucknow: While all political parties in Uttar Pradesh are gearing up for the upcoming by-elections on eight assembly seats, it is the BJP and Samajwadi Party for whom the prestige is at stake. Of the assembly seats that will be contested in the by-elections, the BJP holds six and SP hold two. If the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or Congress perform well in the polls, they will be in a position to strengthen their base among the anti-BJP parties ahead of the 2022 state assembly polls.
Stakes are particularly high for Samajwadi Party leader and Rampur MP Azam Khan whose son Abdullah Azam was MLA from Swar assembly seat but his legislature was cancelled due to an age related issue. Although Azam Khan and his family are currently imprisoned, these polls make for the right opportunity for the SP leader to prove his political influence in the region. More than professional it will be a personal issue for Azam Khan to make his party win the Swar seat once again.
The second assembly seat in possession of the Samajwadi Party is the Malhani seat in Jaunpur. It came into existence in 2012 and has witnessed two elections so far. On both occasions, SP candidate Paranasth Yadav scored a win. However, after Yadav’s demise, the seat will be holding by-elections. Despite a strong ‘wave’ in favour of the BJP in 2017, the seat was bagged by Samajwadi Party. The Nishad party candidate and strongman Dhananjay Singh had settled for the runner up spot. However, now Nishad Party is part of the National Democratic Alliance.
The remaining six seats which will be going for by-elections were held by BJP, including Unnao (Sadar) which was held by Kuldeep Singh Sengar, Toondla assembly seat in Firozabad which was held by Dr SP Singh Baghel, Deoria assembly seat which was held by Janmejay Singh, Naugaon Sadat assembly seat in Amroha which was held by Chetan Chauhan, Ghatampur assembly seat in Kanpur which was held by Kamla Rani Varun and Bulandshahr seat which was held by Virendra Singh Sirohi.
It will be no small challenge for BJP to not only retain all six seats but also win Swar and Malhani assembly seats. For SP, it will be a challenge to not just retain the two seats of Swar and Malhani but also to snatch a few more from the ruling BJP.
At the same time, if Congress manages to make an impact on some seats, it will be a step towards establishing the party as the main opposition ahead of 2022 state assembly polls. It will further strengthen the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra for Congress in Uttar Pradesh.
On the other hand, BSP could not perform well in the past by-elections but has been performing well on the Malhani seat which was held by the SP. Interestingly, the BSP also has its MP from Jaunpur currently and this factor may act as pressure for the party to perform well on the Malhani assembly seat as well.
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