As many as 12 candidates are in the fray for the by polls to the Kairana lok Sabha seats after two candidates withdrew their nominations on the last day of withdrawal of papers on Monday. There are 10 candidates in the fray from the Noorpur assembly seat in Bijnore district of western UP. The polling for both the seats will be held on May 28.
All eyes would be on the Kairana lok Sabha seat, after the ruling BJP lost the by elections to both the Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha seats recently .Both the by polls of Kairana and the Noorpur seat were necessitated following the death of the sitting BJP members.
BJP has fielded Avani Singh from Noorpur assembly seat and Mriganka Singh from Kairana lok Sabha seat. Avani Singh is the widow of late two time BJP MlA from Noorpur in Bijnore district lokendra Singh, who died in a road accident on February 21. Mriganka is the daughter of late BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose death caused the by polls in Kairana in Shamli district. Mriganka had lost the 2017 state assembly elections to Nahid Hasan of SP from kairana assembly seat.
Meanwhile in Kairana a joint opposition candidate Tabassum Begum fielded by Ajit Singh led Rashtriya lok Dal (RlD) while Samajwadi Party candidate Naeemul Hassan would be the opposition candidate from Noorpur seat. A former BSP MP from Kairana, Tabassum (47), who had later joined the SP, is a popular face in the Jat-dominated constituency in western Uttar Pradesh. She joined the RlD early this month before filing her nominations.
BSP and Congress have not fielded their candidates in this by polls and have extended their support the opposition candidates. The Kairana lok Sabha seat has around 17 lakh voters, including three lakh Muslims, four lakh backward castes (Jat, Gujjar, Saini, Kashyap, Prajapati and others) and about 1.5 lakh Dalits. Voting for the Kairana and Noorpur bypolls will be held on May 28 and the results will be declared on May 31.