Assembly bypolls: RLD pushing for bigger role, keen to contest three seats in western Uttar Pradesh
The RLD, according to party insiders, is eyeing the Khair assembly seat in Aligarh and Ghaziabad or Kundarki (Moradabad), apart from the Meerapur assembly seat.
After delivering a cent per cent performance by winning both the Lok Sabha seats it contested in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Lok Dal led by Jayant Chaudhary is pushing for a bigger role in the assembly by-polls to 10 seats to be held later this year.
The party is learnt to be negotiating to contest three seats in alliance with the BJP as a component of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state.
The RLD, according to party insiders, is eyeing the Khair assembly seat in Aligarh and Ghaziabad or Kundarki in Moradabad.
The RLD’s Chandan Chauhan, who was the sitting MLA from Meerapur, won the Bijnor Lok Sabha seat as the NDA candidate. The RLD had won the Meerapur assembly seat in 2022 in alliance with the SP.
“There is a sizeable number of Jat voters in these constituencies, and we would certainly like to contest at least two of them apart from the Meerapur seat where we are a natural claimant,” a senior RLD leader said, requesting anonymity.
He said serious negotiations with the BJP would commence after the current session of Parliament ends on July 4.
The RLD already has two ministerial berths, one each in U.P. and at the Centre.
Nine assembly seats in U.P. fell vacant after their MLAs, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this month.
Besides, SP MLA from Sisamau (Kanpur) Irfan Pathan Solanki was convicted in a criminal case and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment. His assembly seat is likely to go to bypolls.
The assembly seats for which the by-polls will be conducted are: Karhal (Mainpuri), Khair (Aligarh), Kundarki (Moradabad), Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj), Ghaziabad (Ghaziabad), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Milkipur (Ayodhya) and Sisamau (Kanpur).
Though the Election Commission is yet to announce the schedule for the bypolls, the political parties have begun their preparations with the Samajwadi Party (SP)-Congress alliance hoping to maintain its dominance like in the Lok Sabha elections and the BJP trying to reverse the outcome.
