Campaigning for the high-pitched battle for Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls ended on Friday. While Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed public meetings in Gorakhpur, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav campaigned in Phulpur.
The bypoll are expected to witness a triangular contest between the ruling BJP, Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress.
The elections are set to be gauged as a referendum for the Yogi Adityanath as he himself has been a five-time MP from the temple town of Gorakhpur and the BJP has been winning the seat since 1989.
However, the tragedy in Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Medical College last year where over 70 infants died due to lack of oxygen may have an impact on the results.
For the BJP, Gorakhpur is significant as it is the bastion of the Chief Minister, who represented the seat in the lok Sabha five times. Prior to Yogi Adityanath, the seat was thrice represented in Parliament by his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath.
On the other hand, Phulpur, once the bastion of Congress and represented by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, witnessed a saffron surge in 2014 lok Sabha election, when KeshavPrasad Maurya won the seat.
The BJP has fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur against SP’s Pravin Nishad and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel respectively. Dr Sureetha Kareem is the Congress candidate from Gorakhpur while the party has fielded Manish Mishra from Phulpur.
There are 10 candidates in the fray at Gorakhpur, while 22 candidates are contesting from Phulpur.
“The lotus (BJP’s poll symbol) will bloom in both seats. I have no doubt. The very fact that people are talking mostly about BJP’s victory margin is itself an indicator that the party is going to win. We are going to improve our margin in both the seats,” Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya said.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had recently said that while her party had not fielded any candidate from Phulpur or Gorakhpur, but this did not mean that party workers would not cast their votes.
“They will in fact exercise their voting rights appropriately. As per my earlier directives, BSP workers will vote for a candidate who will be in a position to defeat the BJP and there is nothing wrong in it,” Mayawati said.
As per Election Commission, there 19.61 lakh voters in Phulpur constituency and 19.49 lakh voters in Gorakhpur. This time the ruling party faces a new challenge as SP contestants have the backing of BSP.