Uttar Pradesh minister Sanjay Nishad.
Credit: PTI Photo
Lucknow, UP: Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) President Dr Sanjay Nishad on Friday said that his party has decided that they want 'victory' and not 'seats' after BJP and RLD field candidates on all nine seats.
Sanjay Nishad, a constituent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), had camped in Delhi staking a claim on two seats Majhava and Katehari before the BJP announced the ticket in the UP Assembly by-election.
The BJP gave only one seat in Meerapur to its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal and fielded its candidates on the remaining eight seats.
On the last day of filing nomination papers on Friday, a meeting of the state core committee of the NISHAD Party was conducted. Following this, Sanjay along with Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak addressed a press conference.
On being asked about his demand for two seats and not getting any, he said, "Big and tough decisions have to be taken for the interests of the people of the country and the society. For this, we have decided that we will not contest the by-elections, we need 'victory', not 'seat'."
NISHAD Party demanded Majhawa in Mirzapur district and Kathari assembly seats in Ambedkar Nagar, where it contested on its symbol in the 2022 UP assembly elections. They won in Majhawa and lost in Kathari.
However, the BJP put up candidates in eight seats and left the Meerapur seat in Muzaffarnagar for its ally RLD, an apparent slight to its other ally Nishad party.
The by-election became necessary because, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, NISHAD Party MLA from Majhawan Vinod Bind (on BJP ticket) became the MP.
In Khateri, the election is being held after Lalji Verma, who won the election from SP, was elected as MP from Ambedkar Nagar Lok Sabha seat.
According to the Election Commission, voting for Uttar Pradesh assembly seats Karhal, Kundarki, Katehri, Sisamau, Khair, Ghaziabad Sadar, Meerapur, Majhwa and Phulpur will be held on November 13 and counting of votes will be done on November 23. Election has not been declared in one seat Milkipur of Ayodhya district due to a court case.
In the press conference, the fisheries minister said, "Our core committee and workers had a meeting, and it was decided that our workers will work to ensure the victory of the BJP and NDA candidates."
Expressing gratitude towards the deputy chief minister, Nishad said, "Brajesh Pathak has been our old friend like a guardian, I would like to thank him for taking our voice to Delhi from time to time."
He claimed that "Our (NDA) alliance was strong earlier, is strong today and will remain strong tomorrow, will remain so forever."
BJP has declared Ramveer Singh Thakur from Kundarki assembly seat, Sanjeev Sharma from Ghaziabad, Surendra Diler from Khair (reserved), Anuj Yadav from Karhal, Deepak Patel from Phulpur, Dharmaraj Nishad from Katehari, Suchismita Maurya from Majhawan and Suresh Awasthi from Sisamau seat as its candidates.
While leaving the Meerapur seat for ally RLD, from where RLD has made Mithilesh Pal the alliance candidate.
Pathak in the press conference said, "Sanjay Nishad is our friend and we are friends from our school days. Dr. Sanjay rose from the ground and achieved a big position in UP and the country on the basis of his hard work."
He said, "The alliance of BJP and NISHAD party has completely reached the ground with the workers up to the booth level." "We will all fight together for victory on nine seats in the UP Assembly by-election. In every situation, we will defeat the candidates of opposition parties and SP on all nine seats," he said.
Pathak said, ''Whenever SP and INDI (INDIA alliance) got power, goons and mafias grew up under the protection of the government, atrocities and misdeeds on the weaker sections increased.''