UP Assembly Byelections: Swar, Chhanbey Gear Up For Polls; SP Fights To Save Last Bastion In Rampur

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Rampur: The bye-election to Swar and Chhanbey Assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday will witness a direct contest between the ruling coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party with the victor getting a moral boost before next year's Lok Sabha polls. The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to sit out the bye-elections, the Congress has fielded its candidate only in Chhanbey and the political leaders are either campaigning in Karnataka or busy with the urban local bodies elections of Uttar Pradesh. As such, the hustings for by-polls to the two seats in Rampur and Mirzapur districts have been lackluster.

The focus of the by-polls, however, will be on Swar which was previously represented by Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of senior SP leader Azam Khan. The Swar assembly seat was declared vacant on February 13 after a Moradabad court sentenced Abdullah Azam Khan to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case. In 2020, Allahabad High Court set aside his election for hiding his age in the affidavit.

The Samajwadi Party is going all out to defend its last citadel in Rampur while the ruling BJP's ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is leaving no stone unturned to breach this fortress especially after the saffron party managed to snatch the Rampur assembly constituency as well as the Rampur parliamentary constituency both of which were Azam Khan's stronghold.

Azam Khan himself was disqualified from the Assembly last year after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case. In the 2022 UP Assembly election, Abdullah Azam Khan had defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)'s Haidar Ali Khan by a margin of over 61,000 votes. This time, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Anuradha Chauhan from the seat and Apna Dal (Sonelal) has nominated Shafeek Ahmed Ansari.

The Chhanbey seat in Mirzapur fell vacant following the death of Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLA Rahul Prakash Kol in February. The party has fielded Kol's wife Rinki Kol while Kirti Kol is contesting as the Samajwadi Party candidate. Eight candidates are in the fray for this seat.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13. In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs, and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD Party have 11 and six legislators, respectively.

The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs while its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each, and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly.