Rampur: There will be a direct contest between the ruling coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party in the by-elections to be held on Wednesday in Swar and Chanbe assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to sit out the bypolls, the Congress has fielded candidates only in the scrutineering and political leaders are either campaigning in Karnataka or busy with the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh. In such a situation, the by-elections for two seats in Rampur and Mirzapur districts have been dull.
However, the focus of the bypolls will be on Swar, which was earlier represented by Abdullah Azam Khan, son of senior SP leader Azam Khan. The Swar assembly seat was declared vacant on February 13 after a Moradabad court sentenced Abdullah Azam Khan to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case. In 2020, the Allahabad High Court quashed his election for hiding his age in the affidavit.
The Samajwadi Party is going all out to defend its last bastion in Rampur, while the ruling BJP’s ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is leaving no stone unturned to break down this fort, especially since the saffron party is in the Rampur assembly constituency as well. She was successful in snatching Rampur as well. Both these parliamentary constituencies have been the stronghold of Azam Khan.
Azam Khan himself was disqualified from the assembly last year after he was sentenced to three years in jail by a court in a hate speech case. In the 2022 UP Assembly elections, Abdullah Azam Khan defeated Haider Ali Khan of Apna Dal (Sonelal) by a margin of over 61,000 votes. This time Samajwadi Party has nominated Anuradha Chauhan and Apna Dal (Sonelal) Shafiq Ahmed Ansari from this seat.
The Chanbe seat in Mirzapur fell vacant after the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February. The party has fielded Kol’s wife Rinke Kol, while Kirti Kol is contesting as a Samajwadi Party candidate. Eight candidates are in the fray for this seat.
The counting of votes will take place on May 13. In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs, and its allies Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Nishad Party have 11 and six MLAs, respectively.
Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine MLAs. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and Jansatta Dal (Democratic) have two MLAs each, and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly.