Although bye-elections are being held on 9 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on November 13 , the campaigning is yet to pick up.The samajwadi Party (SP) seems to be lagging behind the BJP in terms of campaigning even though it is directly competing with BJP which had put in-charge ministers and leaders on duty on every seat even long before the announcement of elections.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself has visited every seat at least once. Many schemes have been launched. Apart from this, BJP has also assigned the Deputy Chief Ministers, in-charge ministers, MLAs and MPs on duty on these seats. It has launched its campaigning in a small way on all the 9 seats but the SP electioneering is visible only in the Karhal seat ,the family bastion of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. This seat in Mainpuri district fell vacant due to the resignation of Mr Yadav. His nephew and Lalu Prasad Yadav’s son-in-law Tej Pratap Yadav is contesting from there.

The entire family of late Mulayam Singh Yadav has pitched for Tej Pratap with Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav camping in Karhal. Mr Yadav has also gone there twice. However ,senior SP leaders were yet to launch their campaigning in the remaining 8 seats. On these seats, SP is lagging behind BJP in terms of campaigning. Shivpal Singh Yadav has been made in-charge in Katehari but it is reported that campaigning will commence after Diwali festival. SP leaders here on Monday claimed that Dimple Yadav has put in all her strength in Karhal. This seat is a tough question for the SP. Akhilesh Yadav had won it in the 2022 assembly elections by more than 68,000 votes against SP Singh Baghel, who was the Union Minister at that time.

This time BJP has fielded Anujesh Yadav, brother-in-law of Akhilesh Yadav’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav who has already broken ties with his brother-in-law due to him joining BJP. By giving ticket to a family member, BJP has put the family members in religious crisis. In such a situation, Dimple Yadav, who is also the current MP from Mainpuri and is carrying on the legacy of Mulayam Singh’s parliamentary constituency, has her credibility at stake. It is also being said that BJP wanted Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav to contest from here, but she was not ready.

SP sources say that party will send senior leaders along with MLAs and MPs to campaign on all the 9 seats where by-elections are going to be held. The party currently has 37 MPs and 105 MLAs. Out of these, 7 MLAs have become rebels. That means SP has only 98 MLAs. Of this, J Baig and Ramakant Yadav are in jail. It has made its senior leader Shivpal Singh Yadav in-charge of Katehri. He had also gone there to get the nomination done. After campaigning for three days, he returned to Lucknow.

Leaders associated with SP say that Akhilesh Yadav will visit all the assembly segments after Diwali. Besides, only after Diwali, other big leaders will also be assigned duties assembly -wise. As for poll preparations, SP spokesperson Rajendra Choudhury said here on Monday that due to festivals, the campaign is a little slow right now but this will pick up after Diwali.”The list of star campaigners has been released by the party. Party’s national president Akhilesh Yadav has also come out for campaigning. He had attended programmes in Karhal. In the coming days, he may go to campaign on other seats,” spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party recently released the list of its star campaigners for the by-elections, which includes such names which are almost impossible to campaign. This includes names like SP national general secretary Mohammad Azam Khan and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan. While Azam Khan is in jail, Jaya Bachchan had stayed away from campaigning in the Lok Sabha elections so there is very less chance thst she will campaign now. However, as many as twelve MPs and MLAs have been made star campaigners