After Lok Sabha elections hitch, BJP to face acid test in UP assembly bypolls

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath may have told his party workers "not to be on the backfoot" in the wake of BJP's dismal performance in the state in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections but sharp differences between the party and his government have triggered unease among the workers.

The differences with the central leadership of the party are coming to fore at a time when bypolls on ten assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh are just round the corner.

Billed as a mini assembly poll before the scheduled assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2027, the saffron party faces a herculean task to rejuvenate the demoralised party workers and counter the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which has already started the process of selection of prospective candidates and seat sharing talks.

Of the ten seats where by-polls would be held, five were held by the Samajwadi Party (SP), three by the BJP and one each by the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and Nishad Party, both alliance partners in the NDA.

Buoyed by it's impressive performance in the recent bypolls on 13 assembly seats across the country in which the grand opposition alliance won ten seats while the BJP managed to win only two, the I.N.D.I.A. parties, namely the SP and the Congress are now eyeing a clean sweep in the bypolls.

"We will make a clean sweep in the bypolls......even the ruling party leaders are saying that the BJP is in very poor state in UP," said a senior state SP leader while speaking to DH.

The SP leader was referring to the video of BJP MLA Ramesh Chandra Mishra in which he purportedly said that his party was not likely to return to power in the state in the 2027 assembly elections.

He also pointed out the reported tussle between Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya and said that the saffron party was witnessing an internal war for the top post.

Although the outcome of the assembly by-polls would have no effect on the BJP led government in the state, the BJP appeared to be under pressure and desperate to do well in the bypolls.

One of the seats going to the by-poll is Milkipur, which is a part of the Faizabad Lok Sabha constituency of which Ayodhya is also a part. Milkipur MLA and SP leader Awadhesh Prasad had emerged as a giant killer in the Lok Sabha polls when he defeated BJP veteran Lallu Singh from Faizabad seat much to the shock of the saffron party.

By-poll would also be held on Mainpuri seat from where SP president Akhilesh Yadav was elected in 2022 assembly polls. Akhilesh was elected from Kannauj Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 General Elections.

BJP leaders, however, rejected the assertions that the party was on the backfoot. ‘’We have learnt lessons from the lok sabha polls.....the opposition will not get another chance," said a BJP leader here.

In the LS polls, BJP had won 33 seats while its alliance partners RLD and Apna Dal won two and one seats respectively in UP. In the 2019 LS polls, BJP and its alliance partners had won 64 seats. The SP had won 37 seats while its alliance partner Congress had won six seats in the recent LS polls. BSP had drawn a blank.