Yogi Adityanath To Lead BJP In By-Polls For 10 UP Assembly Seats, Here's How The CM Is Preparing

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun preparing for the upcoming by-polls for 10 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh by making a team of 16 Ministers under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Of the 10 seats, five were held by Samajwadi Party (SP), while three had BJP MLAs and one MLA each was of BJP allies NISHAD party and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The BJP not only wants to retain the five seats that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) had but also win the other five seats to compensate for the losses in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

A meeting in this regard was led by Yogi Adityanath on Sunday (30 June). Except for Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, all ministers were present.

After discussing strategies for the by-polls, 16 Ministers, including those from BJP allies were given the responsibilities. Six of these seats will have two Ministers in charge, while four will have one Minister.

Karhal, which was vacated by SP national president Akhilesh Yadav after winning the Lok Sabha election from Kannauj, has been assigned to UP Tourism Minister Jayveer Singh.

Notably, Singh had himself contested against Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav in Mainpuri in the Lok Sabha election but lost. However, he has been given responsibility because he has been following SP strongholds closely.

Two other SP seats, Milkipur and Katehari have been assigned to Surya Pratap Shahi and Mayankeshwar Sharan Singh and Swatantra Dev Singh and Ashish Patel respectively.

Majhawan, vacated by NISHAD party's Vinod Kumar Bind on winning the Lok Sabha election from Bhadohi, has been assigned to Labour and Employment Minister Anil Rajbhar.

NISHAD party chief Sanjay Nishad and Finance Minister Suresh Khanna will work on getting Sisamau from SP as the seat was vacated due to the conviction of Haji Irfan Solanki.

This means that the BJP can let the NISHAD party contest in Sisamau and contest itself in Majhawan. Om Prakash Rajbhar's absence can mean that SBSP will not be contesting on any of these seats.

The Meerapur seat vacated by RLD's Chandan Chauhan is likely to be given to RLD only as Anil Kumar from RLD and Energy Minister Somendra Tomar are in charge here.

Kundarki seat, vacated by veteran SP leader Ziyaur Rahman Barq on getting elected to Lok Sabha from Sambhal, has been assigned to Dharam Pal Singh and J P S Rathore.

The Ministers have been asked to give time to the allotted constituencies. Meanwhile, the race to get tickets has begun. Many newly elected MPs are trying to get tickets for their relatives for the vacated seats.

Former MLAs and MPs are too in the race to get tickets. However, ticket distribution is likely to be done only after the Election Commission issues notification for the by-polls.

The Ministers will be assisted by party functionaries in their allotted constituencies and will report to the UP CM directly as he has taken the reins in his hands for these by-polls.