Polling will be held on Tuesday for by-election to seven Assembly seats in six States, the first electoral test of the INDIA Opposition bloc against the BJP.
While the Opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala. Counting of votes will be held on September 8.
In Uttar Pradesh, Ghosi seat fell vacant after the resignation of Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA and OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan, who rejoined the BJP.
While the ruling BJP-led NDA has fielded Chauhan, Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh has got the support of the Congress and Left parties. Chauhan was a minister in the previous BJP government headed by Yogi Adityanath. He had resigned from the Council of Ministers on January 12, 2022 and switched to the SP.
Campaigning has been high-pitched as both sides are aware that it is a litmus test for the opposition unity and a victory could set the trend in their favour for the Lok Sabha polls next year. In the 543-member Lok Sabha, Uttar Pradesh has 80 MPs.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the BJP's charge. Interestingly, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who had skipped campaigning for the other two prestigious bypolls in Rampur and Azamgarh last year, addressed an election meeting in Ghosi. He said the election would bring a change in the country's politics.
The Dhupguri assembly constituency in north Bengal is witnessing a three-cornered contest among the TMC, BJP and the Congress-supported CPI(M). While the TMC had won the seat in 2016, it was snatched by the BJP in 2021. In Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district, Chief Minister Manik Saha led the party's campaign from the front.
Tipra Motha, the main opposition, and Congress have stayed away. The Tripura Pradesh Congress on Sunday urged people to vote for opposition bloc INDIA candidates in the two seats.
BJP's Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election in February, will take on CPI(M)'s Mizan Hussain in minority-dominated Boxanagar constituency, still considered the Left party's stronghold. Dhanpur, once a strong bastion of the communists, is heading for a direct fight between BJP's Bindu Debnath and CPI(M)'s Kaushik Debnath.
The international border has been sealed to prevent any intrusion from Bangladesh as both constituencies share a boundary with the neighbouring country, a senior police officer said, adding that there will be adequate security to ensure peaceful voting.
In Jharkhand's Dumri, INDIA bloc candidate Bebi Devi is locked in a direct contest with NDA candidate Yashoda Devi. The seat has turned out to be a prestigious one for both alliances amid Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) claiming that the INDIA bloc will begin its victory journey from Dumri, while the NDA exuded confidence that it is all set to snatch the seat from JMM.