The poll bugle has been sounded for the by-elections to nine assembly seats of Uttar Pradesh with the announcement of November 13 as the date for polling.

Political parties in UP have been waiting for the past four months to go for another test of their electoral prowess after the Lok Sabha polls that witnessed a major debacle for the ruling BJP.

The poll process will commence on October 18 with issuance of the notification while polling will be held on November 13. Counting of votes will be held on November 23 along with Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls.

Though 10 assembly seats are vacant in the state, the ECI did not announce the bypolls for the crucial Milkipur seat in the Ayodhya district.

According to reports, bypolls for the Milkipur seat were postponed due to a case pending in the high court. Former BJP MLA Gorakhnath Baba filed a writ in the high court on the 2022 general elections after losing to SP’s Awadhesh Prasad.

The affidavit filed by Awadhesh Prasad in the 2022 election nomination and the lawyer who got it notarised did not have a licence at that time, the petition alleged.

However, Gorakhnath Baba announced on Tuesday that he asked his lawyer to withdraw the petition immediately so that the bypolls of Milkipur could be held along with other seats.

The by-elections won’t be held in Karhal (Mainpuri), Sisamau (Kanpur), Katehari (Ambedkarnagar), Kundarki (Moradabad), Khair (Aligarh), Ghaziabad, Phulpur (Prayagraj), Majhwa (Mirzapur) and Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar) assembly segments.

The Sisamau seat has fallen vacant due to the conviction of SP MLA Irfan Solanki while nine MLAs have become the Lok Sabha members.

The BJP has already announced to context all seats except Meerapur which they had left for its NDA partner RLD, whose candidate won in 2022 polls but got elected to Lok Sabha. It is yet to announce any candidate so far.

The Samajwadi Party announced the names of six candidates on October 9. They include Tej Pratap from Karhal seat, Naseem Solanki, wife of former MLA Irfan Solanki, from Sisamau assembly seat, Ajit Prasad from Milkipur, Mustafa Siddiqui from Phulpur assembly seat, Shobhawati Verma from Katehari assembly seat and Dr. Jyoti Bind from Majhwan seat.

Meanwhile, the Additional Chief Electoral Officer of UP Chandrashekhar said as per the schedule, the election notification would be issued on October 18 and the last date for nominations is October 25. Scrutiny of nominations will be done on October 28 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 30.

The Additional CEO said in the context of by-elections, the relevant provisions of the Model Code of Conduct have been implemented in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Mainpuri, Kanpur Nagar, Prayagraj, Ambedkar Nagar and Mirzapur as per the provisions given by the Election Commission.