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LUCKNOW:
The ruling BJP is ahead in six seats as votes are counted for bypolls to 11 Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. The opposition – Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress – is leading in two, one and one seat each, according to information from the Election Commission of India’s website. Eight of the 11 seats being contested are currently held by the BJP. The Samajwadi Party and the BSP are defending one seat each, which makes it all the more crucial that they hold on to these – Rampur for the Samajwadi Party and Jalalpur for the BSP.
The BJP, which won more than 300 seats on its own in 2017 Assembly elections in the state, has declared itself confident of a clean sweep in these bypolls, for which voting was held on October 21.
“We are going to win all 11 seats,” Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya was quoted in a report by news agency IANS.
The BJP is contesting 10 of the 11 seats; the 11th has been left to its ally, the Apna Dal. The Congress, the SP and the BSP are contesting all seats.
The bypoll to the Rampur seat is one of the more closely watched contests in this election. The stronghold of nine-time Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan, it fell vacant after he was elected to parliament from the same area in Lok Sabha elections in April-May. The party has fielded Mr Khan’s wife, Tanzeem Fatima, who is up against the BJP’s Bharat Bhushan Gupta.
Over the past few months UP police has filed more than 80 cases against Azam Khan, with allegations ranging from land grab and encroachment to the theft of farm animals. Last week the veteran politician claimed he had been targeted “Beause I have Neither sold you ( The people of Rampur ) Nor My Self
All of this has not deterred Mr Khan, 71, from attempting to wield his influence in the region. With his wife and son, Abdullah Azam Khan, who is also a MLA, by his side, it is the veteran politician who has done most of the talking at rallies in the state.
“Those who are making accusations against me… I ask them – why will I usurp the land of the poor? At least be scared of Allah before making such false allegations,” Mr Khan said at a rally in Rampur, where more than half – about 60 per cent – of the electorate are Muslims.
The Ghosi seat in Mau district of UP became vacant after BJP MLA Phagu Chauhan resigned following his appointment as Governor of Bihar.
In total, bypolls were held for the Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas, Lucknow Cantonment, Govind Nagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur, Jalalpur, Balha, and Ghosi. Of these, Iglas, Zaidpur and Balha are reserved seats.
There are a total of 109 candidates contesting these bypolls, according to the UP Chief Electoral Officer. The seat with the most number of candidates is Lucknow Cantonment, with 13 names on the ballot
.Meanwhile, counting for Assembly elections in Maharastra and Haryana are ongoing.
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