Uttar Pradesh: PM Modi's Hybrid Rally In Bijnor Cancelled; Here's How The Contest Is Shaping Up In The District

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first hybrid rally in Uttar Pradesh has been called off due to bad weather. The rally was supposed to take place in Bijnor. He will now make his address virtually.

Earlier last week, reports came in that the Rashtriya Lok Dal will contest on the Bijnor assembly seat after a week of speculation in sections of the local media on whether the Samajwadi Party will keep the contest for itself against the Bharatiya Janata Party. This report mentions that Samajwadi Party leader Rakesh Tomar has said that he will not be contesting on the Bijnor assembly seat as Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has "directed" him "to not file nomination papers".

This report mentions that a case has been filed against the RLD candidate after "objectionable slogans" were raised in his presence.

The seat sharing between SP and RLD seems to have reached a concluding phase in the district and only two seats out of the eight have gone to the RLD, this report mentions. It quotes Tomar as saying: "I have faith in my leader Akhilesh Yadav and my party. Our national president had earlier instructed me to contest the assembly election from Bijnor and given the party symbol, too. But now, he directed me not to file nomination papers. So, I will not contest the poll and extend my full support to (RLD candidate) Neeraj Chaudhary."

The Bharatiya Janata Party is going with five of its sitting MLAs in the district for the upcoming poll. Recently, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath conducted a door-to-door campaign in the district ahead of the election. He addressed party workers and people. He criticised the Samajwadi Party on various fronts and issues during this visit, reports say.

Adityanath also talked about the policies and programmes of his government and their positive impact on the people in the region and the state.

The Najibabad constituency of the district is seen as a weak pitch for the BJP and this time the party is fielding former Member of Parliament Kunwar Bharatendra Singh.

The BJP is fielding former MP and former MLA Dr Yashwant Singh from Nagina.

Kunwar Bharatendra Singh and Dr Yashwant Singh had suffered a loss in the Lok Sabha election of 2019 against the Bahujan Samajwadi Party candidates.