Parties gear up for Gorakhpur, Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls

LUCKNOW: The spotlight will be on the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh with the recent Amethi visits of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and BJP chief Amit Shah and the SP national convention in Agra setting the stage for a high-octane contest.

Though no date has been announced by the Election Commission (EC) for the by-elections, the two seats will go to polls in the near future as Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated them after becoming MLCs.

The BJP will put its best foot forward to ensure that it retains both the parliamentary seats, while the Congress and the Samajwadi Party will make every effort to wrest them in order to send a strong message before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

A win in the bypolls could also set the tone for the 2022 state assembly elections.

Both the seats are significant as Gorakhpur has been a traditional stronghold of the BJP since 1991 while in Phulpur, the saffron party won for the first time in 2014 and will not like the constituency to slip out of its grip.

Expressing confidence that the party will perform better in the parliamentary by-elections, UP BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said, “Undoubtedly, the BJP will not only emerge victorious in both the bypolls but will also improve its victory margin.”

In Phulpur, Maurya had defeated his nearest SP rival by 3,08,308 votes, while in Gorakhpur, Adityanath had defeated his SP rival by 3,12,783 votes.

Asked what makes the party believe that it will improve its margin, Shukla said, “The public welfare work being done by the UP government and that too in a short span of six months drops enough hints that the party will retain both seats comfortably.”

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, which has accused the BJP of not practising what it preached, he said, “The Opposition is only interested in BJP bashing.”

“Even during 2017 UP assembly elections, they had said the BJP will not be able to repeat the grand performance it had put up in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. But, despite this, we (along with our allies) were able to win 325 of the 403 assembly seats,” Shukla said.

HAS BEEN A TRADITIONAL STRONGHOLD OF THE BJP SINCE 1991, WHILE IN PHULPUR, THE SAFFRON PARTY WON FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2014 GORAKHPUR