Polling is on for Lok Sabha bye-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in Uttar Pradesh (UP).
The bypolls were necessitated after the UP Chief Minister (CM), Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister, Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated their seats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, respectively, after taking oath of office.
Yogi Adityanath came in early to cast his vote at a polling booth in Gorakhpur constituency. He was in fact, the “first” one to vote . Speaking to the media, he said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would win the bypolls with a “large margin”.
“People would not vote for the “opportunistic” alliance of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), who have set aside their rivalry to join hands in the bypoll for the two constituencies, the CM told mediapersons outside the polling booth.
For these bypolls, the BSP and the SP have set aside their rivalry and joined forces in UP.
The key contenders from Gorakhpur are, Upendra Shukla from BJP, Praveen Nishad from SP and Surhita Chatterjee Karim from the Congress.
Meanwhile, the Phulpur seat is being contested between, Kaushalendra Singh Patel from the BJP, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from the SP and Manish Mishra from the Congress.
Polling for Bihar Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections have also started. The parliamentary constituency of Araria and two assembly seats, Jehanabad and Bhabua- are witnessing the polling.
The bypolls are being seen as a litmus test for the Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar after he severed ties with the grand alliance and joined BJP last year.
The Araria seat fell vacant after the death of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP, Mohammad Taslimuddin. The key contenders for the seat are RJD’s, Sarafaraz Alam, Taslimuddin’s son and BJP’s Pradip Singh.
The Bhabua assembly seat became vacant after the death of BJP’s, Anand Bhushan Pandey, and the party has fielded his widow, Rinki Rani Pandey. Another key candidate contesting for the seat is, Shambhu Patel from Congress.
Similarly, the Jehanabad seat also fell vacant following the death of the RJD MLA, Mundrika Singh Yadav. His son, Uday Yadav is contesting the seat against JDU’s, Abhiram Sharma.
The results will be declared on March 14.