Election campaign is yet to pick up for the bye-elections to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, scheduled to be held on November 13.

Samajwadi Party, upbeat after winning 37 Lok Sabha seats in the last parliamentary elections, seems to be lagging behind the Bharatiya Janata Party in terms of campaigning.

Though the Bahujan Samaj Party is also contesting the bypolls, it is likely to be a direct contest between the SP and the ruling BJP. The BJP, much ahead of the announcement of the bypolls, had in July last appointed in-charge ministers for each assembly constituency going to bypolls.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself has visited every assembly constituency at least once. The BJP has also assigned the deputy chief ministers, in-charge ministers, MLAs and MPs on duty on these seats. It has launched its campaigning in a small way in all the nine constituencies.

The poll campaign of the SP is visible only in the Karhal assembly seat, the family bastion of party chief Akhilesh Yadav. This seat in Manipuri district fell vacant due to the resignation of Akhilesh Yadav after he was elected to the Lok Sabha. Akhilesh’s nephew and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son-in-law Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from Karhal as SP candidate.

The Yadav clan has rallied behind Tej Pratap with Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav camping in Karhal. Akhilesh Yadav has also campaigned in Karhal.  However, the SP is yet to launch campaigning in the remaining eight constituencies. In these constituencies, SP is lagging behind BJP in terms of campaigning. Shivpal Singh Yadav has been made in-charge in Katehari but it is reported that campaigning will commence after the Diwali festival.

Sources in the SP say that the party will send senior leaders along with MLAs and MPs to campaign on all the nine seats where by-elections are going to be held. They said Akhilesh Yadav would campaign in all the assembly constituencies going to bypolls after Diwali.

As for poll preparations, SP spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury said here on Monday that due to festivals, the campaign is a little slow right now but this will pick up after Diwali. “The list of star campaigners has been released by the party. Party’s president Akhilesh Yadav has also come out for campaigning. He had attended programmes in Karhal. In the coming days, he may go to campaign on other seats,” he said.