Polling begins for Ghosi bypoll in Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow, Sep 5 (IANS) Polling has begun for the Ghosi Assembly bypoll which is being termed as the first NDA vs INDIA bloc electoral faceoff in Uttar Pradesh.

This will be the seventh election in Ghosi since 2012. During this period, voting has taken place in three Assembly elections, two Lok Sabha elections, and one Assembly bypoll.

The previous bypoll was held in 2019 when the then BJP MLA Phagu Chauhan was made the Bihar Governor.

The current bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of the then Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC leader who returned to the BJP in July.

Chauhan, a Minister in the Yogi government’s first term, had resigned from the Council of ministers on January 12 last year and joined the SP.

Now a BJP nominee, Chauhan is pitted against SP's Sudhakar Singh, a Rajput.

The Ghosi Assembly constituency has nearly 4.38 lakh voters and 90,000 of them are Muslims, 1.5 lakh OBCs, 60,000 Dalits and 77,000 from the upper castes -- 45,000 Bhumihars, 16,000 Rajputs and 6,000 Brahmins, according to estimates.

The counting of votes will take place on September 8.

Besides the BJP and SP candidates, there are eight other nominees in the fray.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has not fielded any candidate. The BSP has asked its voters to either stay away from polling or opt for NOTA (None of the Above).

The BJP-led NDA includes Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), NISHAD party, and Apna Dal (S).

Besides the SP, the INDIA alliance here includes Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), CPI, CPI-M, CPI-ML, Janta Dal (United) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The Opposition also has the backing of non-INDIA ally Suheldev Swabhiman Party (SSP).

The bypoll result will have no bearing on the BJP government, which enjoys a comfortable majority in the 403-member state legislative assembly. Nevertheless, its outcome could be an indicator of what is in store in the 2024 elections to the 543-member Lok Sabha. Uttar Pradesh sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

Both the BJP and the SP have petitioned the Election Commission over alleged malpractices.

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