Panel of names sent to central leadership for Uttar Pradesh bypolls

LUCKNOW: In the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the chairmanship of BJP State President Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, the party's core committee meeting agreed on the panel of candidates for the bye-elections to be held on all three seats.

In the core committee meeting held at CM residence last evening a panel of names of candidates for all three seats has been sent to the central leadership. Names may be announced soon.

"There has been a churning on behalf of the BJP to contest the election of Sakya Samaj candidate in Mainpuri. There has been no discussion on the name of Aparna Yadav in the core committee so far," the sources said. BJP is also looking for a strong and tough candidate in Mainpuri in front of Dimple Yadav so that the party retains its hold on Mainpuri seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well.

Among the prominent names are former MPs Raghuraj Shakya, Mamtesh Shakya, Prempal Shakya and Satish Pal, who left the Samajwadi Party and joined the BJP. There was also a discussion about the name of Tourism Minister Jaiveer Singh.

Akash Saxena is considered to be at the forefront of the main contenders to be the BJP candidate in Rampur. According to sources, apart from Akash, Abhay Gupta and Bharat Bhushan Gupta are involved in the making.

In Muzaffarnagar Khatauli, BJP can field any Saini face as its candidate.

Samajwadi Party has purchased four sets of nomination papers for Dimple Yadav as a candidate from Mainpuri for bypoll. Samajwadi Party can also show strength in the presence of Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav during Dimple's nomination.

According to SP sources, the auspicious time is being worked out for the date on which the nomination should be done. S Samajwadi chief Akhilesh Yadav himself has been staying in his home district since November 12 and is keeping a close eye on the elections.

According to party sources, Dimple Yadav may file her nomination between November 14 and 16.

The polling for the by-polls will take place on December 5 and the votes will be counted on December 8, coinciding with the result dates of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections.

The Khatauli seat fell vacant on Monday when BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini was disqualified after his recent conviction in a case related to the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

Uttar Pradesh's Rampur from where Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan was disqualified after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case last month.

Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which fell vacant following the death of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.