In a move likely to unsettle the Bahujan Samaj Party, the Azad Samaj Party, headed by Chandra Shekhar Aazad announced that it would contest all the ten coming bye-elections to the state Assembly.
Though it normally keeps away from by-polls, BSP has made an exception this time and has decided to contest on all the ten seats. Nine of these seats fell vacant as the incumbent legislators were elected in the Lok Sabha while the Sisamau seat in Kanpur fell vacant due to the disqualification of MLA Irfan Solanki by virtue of his conviction in a criminal case by a court.
Despite setbacks in the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati has asserted that it will contest these by-elections alone. Coordinators at the parent party are actively short listing the list of probable candidates whose final selection will get onay from the party headquarters. At the same time, Parent party is preparing for by-polls as party spokespersons are holding constituency meetings.
The chief of the Azad Samaj Party, Chandra Shekhar Aazad, has appointed in-charges to look after operations in four Assembly constituencies: Khair of Aligarh, Meerapur of Muzaffarnagar, Kundarki of Moradabad, and Ghaziabad Sadar of Ghaziabad. Other constituencies where the strategy meetings are planned include Phulpur of Prayagraj, Manjhwa of Bhadohi, Katehri of Ambedkar Nagar, Milkipur of Ayodhya, Sisamau of Kanpur, and Karhal of Mainpuri. APP state president Sunil Kumar Chittod has announced that more in-charges would be appointed after these strategy meetings.
Its district-to-district spread is something that ASP leaders are quite hopeful about, drawing confidence from the recent electoral success in Nagina. The ASP also intends to contest municipal elections.
The upcoming by-poll results would be imperative not only for electoral mathematics but also for Akash Anand as an electoral platform, showing his revival within the BSP. Now that he has been reinstated as national coordinator, Akash Anand's leadership will again be put to test as he steers rallies across Dalit-dominant constituencies against the growing influence of Chandra Shekhar Aazad.
These by-elections are going to provide a good impetus to the latter, as both BSP and ASP eye the Dalit votes in their quest for political supremacy in Uttar Pradesh.
