Another face-off coming right up: NDA, Opposition to wage war for Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls

Lucknow: The BJP led NDA and the grand opposition I.N.D.I.A. bloc will have yet another face-off in the forthcoming by-polls on ten assembly seats, vacated by the legislators after they were elected to the Lok Sabha in Uttar Pradesh.

Of the ten seats where by-polls will be held, five were held by the Samajwadi Party (SP), three by the BJP and one each by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Nishad Party, both alliance partners in the NDA.

Although the outcome of the assembly by-polls would have no effect on the BJP led government in the state, the saffron party, after its dismal performance in the state in the LS polls, would certainly go all out to regain its sitting seats and also wrest a few from the SP.

One of the seats going to the by-polls is Milkipur, which is a part of Faizabad LS constituency of which Ayodhya is also a part. Milkipur MLA and SP leader Awadhesh Prasad had emerged as a giant killer in the LS polls when he defeated BJP veteran Lallu Singh from Faizabad seat much to the shock of the saffron party.

By-poll would also be held on Mainpuri seat from where SP president Akhilesh Yadav had been elected in 2022 assembly polls. Akhilesh was elected from Kannauj LS seat in the LS polls.

‘’BJP will be under tremendous pressure to perform well in the assembly by-polls....any loss of seats will only hit the morale of the party workers....the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is very upbeat after its spectacular performance in the state in the LS polls,’’ said veteran political analyst J.P. Shukla while speaking to DH here.

BJP leaders, however, rejected the assertions that the party was under any kind of pressure. ‘’We are under no pressure....we will do well in the assembly by-polls,’’ said a senior UP BJP leader here. According to the sources, the BJP has already started the process of selection of the candidates for the by-polls.

In the LS polls, BJP won 33 seats while its alliance partners RLD and Apna Dal won two and one seats respectively in UP. In the 2019 LS polls, BJP and its alliance partners had won 64 seats. The SP has won 37 seats while its alliance partner Congress has won six seats in the recent LS polls. BSP had drawn a blank.