121 of total 155 file nomination on last day
Focus on Rampur where Azam’s wife filed her papers and Pratapgarh where BJP candidate Raj Kumar Pal filed nomination on Apna Dal (S) symbol
LUCKNOW: As many as 121 nominations were filed on the last day for the October 21 assembly by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, including 10 from BJP, which got one of its candidates to file nomination on Apna Dal (S) symbol from Pratapgarh.
Overall, a total of 155 nominations were filed for the by-polls, results of which will be declared on October 24.
A nomination that attracted attention was in Rampur where SP’s Rampur MP Azam Khan’s wife Tazeen Fatima filed her nomination for the Rampur seat, which was necessitated after Azam’s election to Lok Sabha.
Up against her would be BJP’s Bharat Bhushan Gupta, a party hopper who had previously contested elections from BSP and was introduced to BJP by union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who also hails from Rampur.
The BJP also got ministers Swami Prasad Maurya and Baldev Singh Aulakh to be part of Gupta’s nomination.
The highest number of nominations -- 20 each -- were filed from Govindnagar (Kanpur) and Jalalpur (Ambedkarnagar). The least number of nomination papers -- 10 each -- were filed from Rampur, Iglas (SC), Manikpur and Zaidpur (SC).
Fifteen candidates each filed their nomination papers from Gangoh, Lucknow Cantonment and Ghosi assembly constituencies.
As many as 18 candidates filed their nomination papers from Pratapgarh, while 12 are in the fray from Balha (SC).
Scrutiny of nomination papers will be done on October 1, while October 3 is the last day for withdrawal of nomination.
Voting will be held on October 21, while counting of votes will be done on October 24.
Of all the nominations, filed on Monday, much interest was focused on Pratapgarh seat from where BJP candidate Raj Kumar Pal, an OBC who was previously with Samajwadi Party, filed his nomination on Apna Dal (S) symbol.
THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF NOMINATIONS WERE FILED FROM GOVINDNAGAR (KANPUR) AND JALALPUR (AMBEDKARNAGAR)
Along with Apna Dal leader Ashish Patel, an MLC, ministers of state Swati Singh and Jai Kumar Singh ‘Jackie’, state secretary Shankar Giri and regional chief Mahesh Srivastava were present for the nomination after the BJP and Apna Dal (S) agreed on a compromise formula, which basically followed the ‘our candidate, your symbol’, formula.
In the 2018 Lok Sabha by-polls, the Samajwadi Party had employed this formula in Gorakhpur and Kairana.
The BJP had inked a pact with the Apna Dal in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and since then the Pratapgarh seat has been left for them, both in Lok Sabha as well as assembly polls.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Apna Dal fielded Harivansh Singh on its ticket and he won easily with BJP support. In 2017 UP polls, the Pratapgarh assembly seat was again left for Apna Dal, whose candidate Sangam Lal Gupta won.
In 2019 Lok Sabha polls the BJP got Sangam Lal Gupta to contest Pratapgarh seat on its symbol and after his win, the Pratapgarh assembly by-poll was necessitated.
“Apna Dal had staked claim for Pratapgarh seat, but within the BJP there was intense pressure on the party to field its own candidate. The matter was discussed, and with the intervention of the party high command, the ‘my candidate, your symbol’ formula was agreed upon,” a BJP leader said.