The Kairana and Noorpur seats fell vacant following deaths of BJP lawmakers Hukum Singh and Lokendra Singh. Hukum Singh had won the Kairana Lok Sabha poll in 2014 by getting 5.65 lakh votes
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named Mriganka Singh, daughter of late MP Hukum Singh, as its candidate for Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll to be held on May 28. The Rashtriya Lok Dal has already given ticket to Tabassum Hasan, wife of former BSP MP Munawwar Hasan, for bypoll. Hasan is likely to emerge as a joint candidate of the opposition, to take on the BJP in Kairana.
The bypoll was necessitated following the death of Hukum Singh earlier this year. Mriganka had lost the Kairana assembly seat in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh polls to Nahid Hasan of the Samajwadi Party.
“My father had developed a bond with this constituency over almost 40 years. It had been a long association for him, and Kairana also happens to be his native place,” Mriganka (57) had earlier told PTI in an interview. “I have spent time in Kairana, and would like to continue the legacy of my father,” she added.
Her father won seven assembly election before entering Lok Sabha in 2014. The Kairana bypoll is crucial for the ruling BJP as well as the opposition, as many believe that it may set the tone for the 2019 parliamentary elections.
The bypoll will also be held for the Noorpur assembly seat which fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Lokendra Singh Chauhan.
The BJP will make an extra effort to retain both Kairana and Noorpur to send a message to voters, party workers and the opposition that the drubbing it got in the recent Gorakhpur and Phulpur bye-elections is now history.
The last date for filing of nomination for the two bye-elections is May 10. In the 2014 parliamentary elections, Hukum Singh bagged 5,65,909 votes, defeating SP’s Nahid Hasan who got 3,29,081 votes. In the 2017 UP Assembly elections, Nahid Hasan defeated Mriganka by 21,162 votes. The Kairana parliamentary constituency, with nearly 16 lakh voters, consists of five assembly segments – Shamli, Thanabhawan, Kairana, Gangoh and Nakur.