Bharatiya Janata Party threw a surprise when it announced a former Samajwadi Party legislator, Ghanshyam Lodhi, as its candidate for the Rampur Lok Sabha byelection and Bhojpuri actor-turned-politician Dinesh Lal Yadav “Nirahua” as its candidate from Azamgarh parliamentary seat.

Lodhi, who is considered close to Mohammad Azam Khan, had joined the BJP in January this year. He was earlier elected MLC on SP ticket. His proximity with Azam Khan can be gauged from the fact that his ticket was sent by a chartered helicopter.

When Lodhi joined BJP it was considered a big catch.

The byelections to Rampur and Azamgarh parliamentary constituencies have been necessitated following resignations by Azam Khan and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, respectively after they were elected to the UP assembly in March this year.

Nirahua had contested the Lok Sabha election from Azamgarh in 2019 as a BJP candidate but was defeated by Akhilesh Yadav. Samajwadi party’s Azam Khan had won the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Samajwadi Party is yet to announce its candidate from Rampur while the BSP has decided not to field a candidate from Rampur constituency but has fielded Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali from Azamgarh. Jamali is a two-time MLA and had left BSP to join All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) before the Assembly elections. He returned to the BSP fold a few months back and was declared the party’s candidate from Azamgarh,

The Samajwadi Party has declared Sushil Anand as the party candidate from Azamgarh in the byelection. Sushil Anand is the son of Balihari Babu, one of the founding members of All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF).

As per the election schedule, June 6 is the last date of filing nominations for the Lok Sabha bypolls and the polling is slated to be held on June 23, whereas, the counting of votes will take up on June 26.