Prem Chand and Susheela Singh withdraw their papers for Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll

With Apna Dal candidate Prem Chand and Independent Susheela Singh withdrawing their papers on the last date of withdrawal for Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll, the stage is not set for a triangular fight on the Phulpur and Gorakkpur seats in the by-election. 

Bastions of the ruling BJP, the seats were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya. Earlier seven nomination papers for Gorakhpur seat and six from Phulpur were rejected during scrutiny leaving 10 and 24 candidates in the fray respectively. With two more withdrawals, a total of 22 candidates remain in the fray for Phulpur seat. The voting for the seats will be on March 11 while counting will be held on March 14.

State Election Officer, L Venkateshwar Lu said that two candidates for Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll withdrew their names on Friday. He said that while a total of 19,49,284 voters will exercise their franchise in Gorakhpur while 19,61,472 voters will vote in Phulpur. Lu said that all the booths will have VVPAT facilities. 

The BJP which was contesting to retain the two seats, have fielded Upendra Shukla and Kaushlendra Patel from Gorakhpur and Phulpur constituencies respectively. 

Samajwadi Party has backed Nishad Party nominee Praveen Kumar Nishad for the bypoll at Gorakhpur seat and fielded Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from Phoolpur. 

Prior to the announcement, Sanjay Nishad (Nishad Party chief) and Dr Ayyub (Peace Party chief) announced to contest the by-poll along with the SP. 

Congress was the first to announce its candidates and fielded Manish Mishra as candidate from Phulpur while Surhita Chaterjee Karim is contesting from Gorakhpur.