UP bypolls: BSP top guns missing from campaign trail

Lucknow: Amid the power-packed campaigning by various parties for the Uttar Pradesh bypolls, senior leaders of the BSP -- which has fielded candidates on all nine seats -- are conspicuous by their absence.

Campaigning for the November 20 bypolls will end on Monday evening but Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) state unit president Vishwanath Pal is the lone party leader campaigning for party candidates.

BSP chief Mayawati is yet to attend any public meeting or rally in favour of any candidate in any of these nine seats.

Even Mayawati's nephew and senior office bearer Akash Anand and former Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Misra are yet to come out to create an atmosphere in favour of party candidates.

Misra, however, has asserted that his party is fighting very strongly in the bypolls.

"The BSP is fighting very strongly in the bypolls being held on nine seats in Uttar Pradesh under the leadership of behen Mayawati ji. And I appeal to the people that if they join BSP, they will move forward and will also remain safe. If they stay away from BJP and SP, they will remain safe," he said on X on Friday.

BSP's state unit president Vishwanath Pal on Sunday told PTI, "On the orders of behenji (Mayawati), I and the party's coordinator and district president are campaigning vigorously for the party candidates on all the nine seats where bypolls are being held". "With the message of behenji, we are going to all the bypoll-bound seats and are fully encouraging our workers. You will see that very good results will come in favour of BSP in these bye-elections, which will surprise other parties," Pal said.

Asked about former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati and Anand's absence from public meetings and rallies, Pal said, "Behenji and Akash bhaiya are busy in assembly elections of Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Apart from this, I have not received any order or instruction from the national leaders of my party."

On the possibility of Mayawati or Anand taking part in rallies in the last two days of campaigning, Pal said, "So far, there is no information about any such programme of our national leaders regarding the bypolls in UP." The indifference of the big leaders seems to be affecting the morale of the party candidates.

BSP candidate from Sisamau assembly constituency in Kanpur, Virendra Kumar told PTI, "The BSP's campaign is going well in Sisamau. Party workers are working with full dedication. We had asked the party office for the program of party president behenji (Mayawati) and Akash bhaiya. If either behenji or Akash bhaiya had come to our Sisamau area, the campaign would have been made even better."

Amit Verma, the BSP candidate from Ambedkar Nagar's Katehari assembly seat said, "Katehari is a stronghold of the BSP. It was behenji (Mayawati) who created this district. We had asked the party office for the programme of big leaders. But we did not get any reply. If behenji or any other leader had come for the election campaign, the enthusiasm of party workers would have doubled." Verma claimed the BSP is winning the bypolls of Katehari.

"The workers are working hard day and night, he said, asserting "this will bring good results".

In contrast, most political parties have put all their strength in campaigning for their candidates.

From Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, top leaders of most of the parties are coming out in the field and creating an atmosphere in favour of their candidates.

The nine assembly seats going to polls are Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sisamau (Kanpur City), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

Eight of these seats fell vacant after their MLAs were elected as Lok Sabha MPs, while bypoll is being held on the Sisamau seat due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.

In the 2022 assembly polls, Sishamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki were held by the SP, while the BJP had won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair.

The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD, which is now an ally of the BJP in the NDA.

The Congress is not contesting the bypolls and supporting its I..N.D.I.A. bloc partner SP, while the BSP is contesting solo on all nine seats.