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Express News Service
LUCKNOW: With the big battle of 2024 inching closer, the bypoll for the Ghosi assembly seat, scheduled to take place on September 5, will be the first electoral face-off between the BJP-led NDA and the newly-formed opposition alliance — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — in Uttar Pradesh.
On the one hand, it would be a show of strength by the NDA after the return of former SP MLA Dara Singh Chauhan and the joining of the OP Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). On the other, it would be a litmus test for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s strategy of focusing on PDA (Pichhdra, Dalit and Alpsankhyak—Backward, Scheduled Castes and Minority), through which he plans to uproot the NDA in UP.
After his return to the saffron fold last month, Dara Singh Chauhan, a habitual party-hopper, has been given the ticket by the BJP from Ghosi, his traditional seat. Chauhan was a cabinet minister in the previous regime of Yogi Adityanath and had left the party to join the SP in January 2022. He had contested the 2022 assembly polls from the same seat winning it for the SP. However, after a year and a half, Chauhan, a Nonia MBC, resigned from Assembly and returned to the BJP in July 2023. The bypoll in Ghosi is necessitated by his resignation.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has fielded former MLA Sudhakar Singh, a Thakur, from the seat, eyeing the anti-BJP upper caste votes. Sudhakar Singh had won the 1996 assembly poll from Nathhupur and after delimitation, he won from Ghosi in 2012 on SP ticket. However, under the saffron wave in 2017, he lost Ghosi to the BJP’s Phagu Chauhan who vacated the seat after being appointed Bihar Governor in 2020 resulting in a bypoll which Sudhakar Singh lost again.
The BSP and the Congress have opted to stay away from the bypoll resulting in a bipolar contest between the BJP and the SP. The last date for filing nominations is August 17.
Sources said that the BJP decided to field Chauhan to send a message to the OBC community, which determines the electoral fortunes of political parties in the east UP region. Ghosi, in Mau district, has a sizable OBC population. The Assembly segment had 4.50 lakh voters of which 1.50 lakh are OBCs, 60,000 minority and 70,000 dalits.
ALSO READ | After Rahul’s return to Lok Sabha, UP Congress now wants him to fight from Amethi in 2024
Whie the SBSP and other BJP allies claim the Ghosi bypoll would be a cakewalk for Chauhan, political experts feel that Chauhan’s image of a party-hopper could be factor going against him.
Chauhan started his career with the BSP in 1996, switched to the SP in 2000, came back to the BSP in 2009, went to the BJP in 2015, turned to the SP in January 2022 and then came back to the BJP in July 2023. Experts also believe that the SP would try to make it a contest between Dara Singh Chauhan, an outsider, who hails from Azamgarh, and Sudhakar Singh, a native of Mau district comprising Ghosi assembly segment. The result will be announced on September 8.
Results of last four elections in Ghosi:
2022 Assembly pollsDara Singh Chauhan (SP): 108430 votesVijay Rajbhar (BJP): 86214 votesWasim Iqbal (BSP): 54248 votes
2020 Assembly bypollVijay Rajbhar (BJP): 68371 votesSudhakar Singh (SP backed ind): 66598 votesAbdul Qayyum Ansari (BSP): 50775
2017 Assembly pollsPhagu Chauhan (BJP): 88298 votesAbbas Ansari (BSP): 81295 votesSudhakar Singh (SP): 59256 votes
2012 Assembly pollsSudhakar Singh (SP): 73562 votesPhagu Chauhan (BSP): 57991 votesMukhtar Ansari (QED): 44596 votes
LUCKNOW: With the big battle of 2024 inching closer, the bypoll for the Ghosi assembly seat, scheduled to take place on September 5, will be the first electoral face-off between the BJP-led NDA and the newly-formed opposition alliance — Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) — in Uttar Pradesh.
On the one hand, it would be a show of strength by the NDA after the return of former SP MLA Dara Singh Chauhan and the joining of the OP Rajbhar-led Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP). On the other, it would be a litmus test for SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s strategy of focusing on PDA (Pichhdra, Dalit and Alpsankhyak—Backward, Scheduled Castes and Minority), through which he plans to uproot the NDA in UP.
After his return to the saffron fold last month, Dara Singh Chauhan, a habitual party-hopper, has been given the ticket by the BJP from Ghosi, his traditional seat. Chauhan was a cabinet minister in the previous regime of Yogi Adityanath and had left the party to join the SP in January 2022. He had contested the 2022 assembly polls from the same seat winning it for the SP. However, after a year and a half, Chauhan, a Nonia MBC, resigned from Assembly and returned to the BJP in July 2023. The bypoll in Ghosi is necessitated by his resignation.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has fielded former MLA Sudhakar Singh, a Thakur, from the seat, eyeing the anti-BJP upper caste votes. Sudhakar Singh had won the 1996 assembly poll from Nathhupur and after delimitation, he won from Ghosi in 2012 on SP ticket. However, under the saffron wave in 2017, he lost Ghosi to the BJP’s Phagu Chauhan who vacated the seat after being appointed Bihar Governor in 2020 resulting in a bypoll which Sudhakar Singh lost again.
The BSP and the Congress have opted to stay away from the bypoll resulting in a bipolar contest between the BJP and the SP. The last date for filing nominations is August 17.
Sources said that the BJP decided to field Chauhan to send a message to the OBC community, which determines the electoral fortunes of political parties in the east UP region. Ghosi, in Mau district, has a sizable OBC population. The Assembly segment had 4.50 lakh voters of which 1.50 lakh are OBCs, 60,000 minority and 70,000 dalits.
ALSO READ | After Rahul’s return to Lok Sabha, UP Congress now wants him to fight from Amethi in 2024
Whie the SBSP and other BJP allies claim the Ghosi bypoll would be a cakewalk for Chauhan, political experts feel that Chauhan’s image of a party-hopper could be factor going against him.
Chauhan started his career with the BSP in 1996, switched to the SP in 2000, came back to the BSP in 2009, went to the BJP in 2015, turned to the SP in January 2022 and then came back to the BJP in July 2023. Experts also believe that the SP would try to make it a contest between Dara Singh Chauhan, an outsider, who hails from Azamgarh, and Sudhakar Singh, a native of Mau district comprising Ghosi assembly segment. The result will be announced on September 8.
Results of last four elections in Ghosi:
2022 Assembly polls
Dara Singh Chauhan (SP): 108430 votes
Vijay Rajbhar (BJP): 86214 votes
Wasim Iqbal (BSP): 54248 votes
2020 Assembly bypoll
Vijay Rajbhar (BJP): 68371 votes
Sudhakar Singh (SP backed ind): 66598 votes
Abdul Qayyum Ansari (BSP): 50775
2017 Assembly polls
Phagu Chauhan (BJP): 88298 votes
Abbas Ansari (BSP): 81295 votes
Sudhakar Singh (SP): 59256 votes
2012 Assembly polls
Sudhakar Singh (SP): 73562 votes
Phagu Chauhan (BSP): 57991 votes
Mukhtar Ansari (QED): 44596 votes
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