By-elections in UP: The date of by-elections in UP will probably be announced along with the elections in Maharashtra. Samajwadi Party has started its preparations for these elections.
Akhilesh Yadav has started preparations for the by-elections to be held for ten assembly seats in UP. The SP leadership has indicated to prepare its candidates on most of the assembly by-election seats. However, their names have not been officially announced yet. The Election Commission is likely to announce the schedule in the last week of October.
Elections are to be held on 10 vacant assembly seats in UP. One of these seats has fallen vacant due to the conviction of Sisamau (Kanpur) SP MLA Irfan Solanki, while nine MLAs have now become Lok Sabha members. Five of these seats Karhal, Sisamau, Milkipur, Katehari and Kundarki were with SP. On the other hand, Khair, Ghaziabad and Phulpur seats were won by BJP, Majhava Nishad Party and Meerapur RLD.
Karhal seat has fallen vacant due to the resignation of SP President Akhilesh Yadav. Former MP Tej Pratap Singh Yadav has been asked to start preparations from here. Faizabad MP Awadhesh Prasad is preparing for his son Ajit Prasad from Milkipur (Ayodhya) seat. He has also got assurance of ticket from SP leadership. Katehari seat has fallen vacant due to the election of MP Lalji Verma as MP and indications have been given for his daughter Chhaya Verma from here.
According to leaders close to Akhilesh Yadav, former MLA Rizwan from Kundarki has started preparations. Ompal Singh has started contacting in Khair. He had contested the 2017 elections from there on a RLD ticket. There is every possibility of former MLA Qadir Rana contesting from Meerapur and a member of Irfan Solanki’s family contesting from Sisamau. Deliberations are still going on for Ghaziabad, Majhava and Phulpur seats.
