Stage set for Yogi vs Akhilesh show of strength in U.P. bypolls

The stage is set for a direct show of strength between chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in the Uttar Pradesh assembly bypolls to be held on November 13.

Yogi will lead the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) campaign and Yadav spearhead the INDIA bloc’s electioneering.

The virtually direct contest between the BJP and the SP follows the Congress decision not to field candidates in by-elections for nine assembly seats.

Adityanath’s prestige is at stake in the by- elections after the BJP suffered a setback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh, leading to rumblings in the party with some senior leaders raising questions over the working of the government.

Immediately after the Lok Sabha election, Adityanath swung into action when the Election Commission of India started preparations for the by-elections for the 10 assembly seats in July (The bypoll schedule for the tenth assembly seat, Milkipur in Ayodhya district, has not been announced as an election petition is pending before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court).

The chief minister began leading the campaign from the front, seeing the by-election as an opportunity to restore the party’s prestige and to send a message to opponents that his charisma has not eroded.

He undertook whirlwind visits to all the constituencies, holding meetings with local party leaders and workers to draw the strategy for the campaign. He addressed a series of public meetings in all these assembly constituencies.

Besides, the state government organised “rozgar melas” to woo youngsters and announced the launch of various schemes for farmers and women.

Among the nine seats going to the bypolls, Karhal, Kundarki, Sisamau and Katehri are considered Samajwadi Party strongholds. In four months of aggressive campaign, Yogi mobilised the party workers in a bid to breach the SP fort.

He played a pivotal role in drawing the strategy for the campaign and in the selection of the candidates. He also constituted groups of three ministers, allotting one constituency to each group and tasking them with completing the groundwork for the campaign.

He chaired high-level meetings of the top BJP state unit leaders to give a momentum to the election campaign.

To regain its support base, the BJP, which is contesting eight of the nine seats, has decided to field four OBC candidates.

In contrast to Yogi’s campaign style, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s activities are limited to an election war room located in the party office.

Focusing on micromanagement of the campaign, he is holding meetings with party leaders and office bearers of the nine assembly constituencies to fine tune the strategy as he appears confident that the tried and tested PDA formula (Pichada or backwards, Dalits and Alpsahkhyaks or minorities) will work again.

This PDA formula paved way for the INDIA bloc’s big victory in the Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party emerged as the largest party in Uttar Pradesh, winning 37 parliamentary seats. Its ally, the Congress won six seats, taking the INDIA bloc tally to 43 in Uttar Pradesh against 36 of the NDA.

Yadav is strengthening the booth committees, resolving the disputes among local leaders, directing the party leaders to screen electoral rolls and strengthening social media presence in all the constituencies. He is directing the party leaders to hold meetings in the villages and localities that are considered strong base of the BJP.

After the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the by-election schedule, Yadav visited only Karhal, considered an SP pocket borough from where Akhilesh’s cousin Tej Pratap Singh Yadav filed his nomination as an SP candidate on Monday.

Yadav played a master stroke on Wednesday by announcing that the SP will field candidates on all the nine assembly seats. While he ensured that INDIA bloc alliance remains intact, the Congress, too, accepted the decision, giving a clear indication that Akhilesh will be at helm of the alliance in Uttar Pradesh.

An SP leader said, “After the filing of nominations for all nine seats concludes, the SP juggernaut will be set rolling in poll bound constituencies with the party chief leading the campaign.”

Among the nine assembly seats going to bypolls, eight were vacated after the election of sitting MLAs to the Lok Sabha in the 2024 general election.

These eight seats are Karhal (Mainpuri), Katehri (Ambedkarnagar), Kundarki (Moradabad), Khair (Aligarh), Majhawan (Mirzapur), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Ghaziabad Sadar (Ghaziabad).

The Sisamau seat was vacated following the disqualification of sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who has been sentenced by a court in a criminal case.

Polling is scheduled for November 13 and votes will be counted on November 23.

Four of the nine assembly seats going to bypolls were won by the SP, three by the BJP and one each by the Nishad party and the RLD in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.