Congress and its ally Samajwadi Party (SP) have announced that they will contest upcoming Lok Sabha by-elections for Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies by fielding their own candidates separately.
Congress had announced their candidates through state party chief Raj Babbar on February 16. They will be fielding UP Congress general secretary Manish Mishra from Phulpur and senior leader Surhita Chatterjee Karim will be the candidate for Gorakhpur.
On the other hand, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav declared yesterday that they will fight by-elections in alliance with Peace Party and Nishad Party, local political outfits from Purvanchal region. Praveen Kumar Nishad, son of Nishad Party head Sanjay Nishad, will contest from Phulpur, while Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel will be fielded from Gorakhpur.
By-elections in these two high-profile constituencies were announced after current UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats, respectively, to become members of the state legislative assembly and form the government.
BJP has not yet announced its candidates for the polls but campaigning has already begun at local levels. Out of these two seats, Gorakhpur assumes considerable importance for the party because it has sent chief minister Yogi Adityanath to the Parliament for five consecutive terms. Before him, it was represented thrice by Yogi Avaidyanath, his mentor and the then head of the Nath community.
Voting for Lok Sabha by-elections will commence on 11 March and results will be declared three days later.