The Bahujan Samaj Party( BSP) has become the first political party to announce a candidate for the coming assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
The party announced a candidate for Milkipur (reserved) assembly seat in the Ayodhya district.
While the by-elections to 10 assembly seats in the sate are due, the Election Commission is yet to announce dates.
According to party sources Ram Gopal Kori will contest the elections on a BSP ticket.
Party’s state unit president Vishwanath Pal said on Sunday that Ram Gopal Kori has been appointed in-charge of the Milkipur assembly constituency. In the BSP, the one who the party makes in-charge of a assembly constituency is deemed as the candidate.
Ram Gopal Kori had earlier contested election from the Milkipur seat in 2017 secured the third place polling 46,000 votes. The election was won by Gorakhnath Baba on BJP ticket. Awadhesh Prasad had won on a SP ticket by defeating Gorakhnath in the 2022 assembly elections.
Awadhesh Prasad has been elected MP from the Faizabad parliamentary seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The seat has fallen vacant after his election as MP hence the by-election.
While the Samajwadi Party hinted that it would give a ticket to Awadhesh Prasad’s son Ajit Prasad, the BJP is yet to declare its candidate.
Meanwhile, Azad Samaj Party led by Nagina MP Chandrashekhar Azad has announced three candidates for the assembly bypolls in UP.
The party has announced Zahid Hasan from Meerapur seat in Muzaffarnagar district, Choudhury Satyapal from Ghaziabad seat and Dheeraj Naurya from Majhwan seat in Mirzapur district.