Lucknow, Oct 9 (PTI) In an apparent snub to ally Congress a day after assembly poll results in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Wednesday announced candidates for six of the 10 Uttar Pradesh assembly seats where bypolls are due later this year.
The Congress has been demanding five seats in the bypolls. The Election Commission is, however, yet to announce the schedule.
After the SP named its candidates for the Karhal (Mainpuri), Sisamau (Kanpur city), Milkipur (Ayodhya), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Majhwan (Mirzapur) constituencies, party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said any seat sharing arrangement with the Congress will be decided by party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Interestingly, the Congress has been demanding the Phulpur and Majhwan seats besides Ghaziabad, Khair (Aligarh) and Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar). Bypoll is also due in Kundarki (Moradabad).
The Congress, which was expected to make a comeback in Haryana, got 37 of the 90 seats as the BJP won a third consecutive term with a score of 48.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the NC-Congress alliance bagged 49 of the 90 seats but the grand old party won only six of the 32 it contested.
The SP, which is a part of the INDIA bloc, has been saying it will contest the bypolls with the Congress.
Asked about the SP announcement, Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajay Rai told PTI, “We have submitted a proposal about contesting 5 of the 10 seats to the high command. These were the seats won by BJP earlier.” “I have said whatever I had to say,” he said when asked further.
The BJP took at the INDIA bloc with its state spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi saying this is the “effect of Haryana election results”.
He went on to say: “The SP has shown the Congress its place by declaring candidates on seats claimed by it.” According to the party’s official list, the SP named Tej Pratap Yadav from Karhal, Naseem Solanki from Sisamau, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur, Ajit Prasad from Milkipur, Shobhawai Verma from Katehari and Jyodi Bind from Majhwan.
Nine of these seats fell vacant after their respective MLAs were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha polls, while in Sisamau, the bypoll is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.
Naseem Solanki is wife of Irfan Solanki, while Shobhawati Verma is wife of party MP Lalji Verma and Ajit Prasad the son of Faizabad (Ayodhya) MP Awadhesh Prasad.
Jyoti Bind is the daughter of party leader Ramesh Bind, who lost to Apna Dal (S) candidate Anupriya Patel in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Mirzapur. PTI ABN MAN ZMN
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