The countdown for the Lok Sabha bypolls in Azamgarh and Rampur has begun and almost all major political parties have reduced the number of candidates. Both the seats are considered strongholds of the Samajwadi Party and the ruling BJP never won them. Now the by-elections to be held on these seats on June 23 have emerged as an important test for the Yogi Adityanath-led government of the state after coming to power for the second time.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded Azam Khan’s aide Asim Raja from Rampur in place of Tazeen Fatima as was being speculated earlier. the name of the king was announced Aajam Khan Monday is the last day for filing nominations in the constituency. Along with being close to Raja Azam Khan, he has also been the local chief of the Samajwadi Party in Rampur.
Many people feel that the SP chief Akhilesh Yadav Considering the Muslim vote for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the seat has been handed over to Azam Khan and also to douse the fire of criticism that has come to the fore for allegedly ignoring his party colleague. who were imprisoned.
Bahujan Samaj Party has decided not to field any candidate here. Experts believe that this could be due to Azam Khan’s dominance in the district. The BSP is however focusing on Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha seat vacated by Akhilesh Yadav when he decided to remain in the UP assembly. The BSP has also announced a long list of 40 star campaigners, including party chief Mayawati, who will campaign for its candidate Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali in Azamgarh. This move of the party may hurt the prospects of the SP in this seat, which has a large number of Muslim voters. The Samajwadi Party has given ticket to Dharmendra Yadav, a three-time Lok Sabha MP and cousin of Akhilesh Yadav.
Congress has officially announced that it will not field any candidate for Rampur and Azamgarh bypolls, citing the results of the recently concluded UP Assembly elections in which it had lost. According to a senior Congress leader, the party wants to focus more on strengthening the organization ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The BJP is eyeing Azamgarh in the absence of any big member of the Yadav family in the by-election. In an attempt to make a mark among Yadav voters, the party has once again fielded Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirhua’. During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Samajwadi Party’s candidate Akhilesh Yadav had got around 6.21 lakh votes, while BJP’s Nirahua got around 3.61 lakh votes.
Speaking exclusively to News18, Nirahua said, “The double engine government of the BJP has done so much for the people, be it free ration or free vaccine. Not only Azamgarh, but any person from Azamgarh, who was in any part of the country, asked for help and our team reached out to that person and ensured help. That’s why people want us to win from Azamgarh. Once again I am grateful to my organization for showing faith in me. I want to tell the people of Azamgarh that you have voted for caste, religion etc, but this time you give me a chance. There is a BJP government at the Center and in the state. If I don’t do well in these two years, you can replace me.
Speaking about the contest and challenges in the by-election, he said that this time the fight will be between BJP and BSP. “The stronger candidates you find in the opposition, the more interesting the fight becomes. This time SP is not in competition, but it is between BJP and BSP. In the last elections, when the agreement between SP and BSP was reached, the love and affection I received was not less. There is no alliance now, and if people will shower so much love on me, I will move on. In Azamgarh, this time the vote will not be on the basis of caste or religion but on the basis of work. If you look at the social equations, I can say that BSP is in competition with BJP as SP vote is going towards BSP candidate Guddu Jamali.
The Samajwadi Party, however, is confident of retaining both the seats. Speaking to News18, SP national spokesperson Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said, “Samajwadi Party strongly believes in the ethos of functional and electoral democracy. Free and fair elections are an integral part of any healthy democracy. Therefore, for Samajwadi Party, every election is important as it helps us in ensuring the health of our democratic structure. We are going to fight both the by-elections with full force. Both these Lok Sabha seats have been our strongholds for a long time and we are confident that we will win both the seats with a huge margin. In 2019 elections people showed their faith and faith in the leadership of Samajwadi Party and this time also Samajwadi Party will be victorious. We gave results in 2018 by defeating BJP in Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections. This time also our candidates are touching the sky.
The BJP, however, feels that there is no “litmus test” in the Azamgarh and Rampur bypolls and has accused the SP of dynastic politics. UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told News18, “There is nothing like a litmus test. The BJP has returned to power with a massive mandate in the state. This shows that the people of UP have faith in the BJP. Bye-elections should not be considered a litmus test as there are many local issues that come into play. On the other hand, SP has once again proved that it is a party of a special family, whereas in BJP, priority is given to a common worker. We will definitely win those two seats which were earlier held by SP.
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.