Campaigning for the crucial by-polls to one lok Sabha and 11 Assembly seats in the state, which had reached its crescendo, ended on Thursday evening.
Polling for the by-polls will be held on coming Saturday (September 13) between 7ams to 6pm. Counting of votes would be done on September 16 from 8am.
The ruling SP and BJP are contesting for all the seats, but in some Assembly seats, Congress is trying to intrude into the vote bank of both the SP and BJP. BSP is not contesting the by-polls this time, but have announced to support to some of the Independent candidates. Congress is not contesting from the lone Mainpuri lok Sabha seat and are indirectly supporting SP. All Assembly seats except for Rohania have been vacated by BJP.
A total of 16,47,176 voters are eligible to vote in the Mainpuri lok Sabha seat in 1929 polling booths while for the 11 Assembly seats, the total number of voters are 41,15073. There are a total 2010 booths in 11 Assembly segments. All 5,939 polling booths of one lok Sabha and 11 Assembly seats here would be manned by Central forces to ensure safety and security of people.On the request of the Election Commission, the Centre has allotted 213 companies of Central Para Military Forces for the state during the bypolls.
Campaigning in the by-polls turned into a direct conflict between the SP and BJP after there was reported violation of election norms by the BJP leaders in lucknow on Wednesday. Yogi Adityanath of BJP was also served notice by the Election Commission for his controversial speech. On Thursday, in Balha Assembly segment of Bahriach district, BJP and SP supporters came in direct confrontation over damage caused to helipad of Bollywood star and BJP MP Hema Malini.
Samajwadi Party had left no stone unturned to retain Mainpuri lok Sabha seat as it would entact the supremacy of the Yadav’s family in the area. However, BJP too is trying to hard to snatch it from SP as it would further boost their prospect for a come back during 2017 Assembly election. SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had left the seat after winning both from Mainpuri and Azamgarh seats, had already camped for two days while his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and SP’s senior-most minister Shivpal Singh Yadav also held meetings to ensure victory of another Yadav’s scion, Tej Pratap Singh, who is the candidate for the seat, while BJP has given ticket to a local leader Prem Singh Shakya.
The lucknow (East) seat was vacated by Union Minister Kalraj Mishra, now elected from Deoria parliamentary constituency, and more important is the Assembly segment of lucknow parliamentary seat represented by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
BJP leaders are working round the clock to retain the seat with candidate Ashutosh Tandon, son of senior party leader lalji Tandon, himself trying to reach every nook and corner of the constituency. In the 2012 Assembly polls, Tandon was on the fourth place in lucknow (north) seat. However, SP candidate Juhi Singh and Congress contestant Ramesh Srivastava too are trying hard to snatch the seat from BJP.
After lucknow (East) seat, all eyes are on the Rohania Assembly segment, where Apna Dal’s president Krishna Patel has put all her force to retain the seat, vacated by her daughter Anupriya Patel, who won the Mirzapur lok Sabha seat in alliance with the BJP.
BJP has left the Rohania seat, an Assembly segment in the Varanasi parliamentary seat represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Ms Patel is locked in a direct contest against the SP Candidate in Rohania seat. The four Assembly seats of Saharanpur(Sadar), Bijnore, Noida and Thakurdwara in Moradabad district in western parts of the state is also experiencing a direct contest between BJP and SP.
Vote polarisation is the main issue which could benefit the BJP. In Saharanpur seat, though the Congress candidate had a upper hand in the initial stage but now there too BJP and SP are on direct fight. Two seats of Bundelkhand region Hamirpur and Charkhari are also witnessing a direct contest between SP and BJP while Nighasan Assembly seat in lakhimpuri Kheri district are going for a triangular contest. The two reserved Assembly seats of Sirathu in Kaushambi district and Balha in Bahriach district too are going for a three-cornered contest.