Lucknow: Two BJP and a Samajwadi Party candidate filed their nominations on Monday for the by-elections to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council scheduled on August 11. Gorakhpur regional president Dharmendra Singh Sainthwar and Kashi region vice president Nirmala Paswan filed their nominations as BJP candidates in the presence of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak and senior party leaders at the Central hall of the Vidhan Bhawan here.
SP candidate Kirti Kol, who was the party’s candidate from the Chhanbe seat in Mirzapur constituency during the assembly polls and represents the tribal community, also filed her nomination. SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel, party MLAs Manoj Pandey, Ravidas Mehrotra and others were present during the occasion.
“Both our candidates are going to win with a huge margin,” Pathak told reporters, adding “They (SP) know they do not have numbers to win. They did this only to have their names in newspapers.”
Kol also appealed to all to support her and thanked her party leadership for fielding her. The two seats on which the bypolls are to be held fell vacant after the death of Samajwadi Party’s Ahmad Hasan and the resignation of BJP’s Thakur Jaiveer Singh, who won the recent assembly polls.
Earlier in April, the BJP had swept the Uttar Pradesh legislative council elections that were held on 36 seats as it had registered a win on 33 seats.
Last month, BJP candidate Ghanshyam Singh Lodhi won the Lok Sabha bypoll in Rampur under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanatah, giving a blow to the Samajwadi Party (SP), which fielded Asim Raja who was handpicked by Azam Khan.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) did not contest from Rampur, which fell vacant due to the resignation of veteran SP leader Azam Khan after he was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in the recently held state elections.
(With PTI/ANI Inputs)