Bye-elections of Kairana and Nourpur is tough for the BJP

| | Lucknow | in Lucknow

Relying on sympathy vote the Bharatiya Janata Party will try to salvage its prestige and seat in two bye-elections of Kairana and Nourpur where elections will e held on Monday and results will be declared on Thursday next.

The election is tough for the ruling party because if it loses these elctions questions will be raised about Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s administrative capabilities and party president Dr Mahendra Nath Pandey’s organizational capabilities. 

“The bye-elections in any government does not predict longevity of the government. But the result throws a hint about the mood of people and provides opposition a hammer to beat the government. After defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur elections all eyes are now on Kairana where opposition parties stand united. Any unfavourable result will have tongue waging against Yogi,” Dr Nomita P Kumar of Giri Institute of development Studies said.

The bye-election in Kairana Lok sabha constituency is necessitated following death of its sitting BJP MP Hukum Singh while Nurpur assembly seats got vacated after its two time BJP MLA, Lokendra Singh died in a car accident on Lucknow-Agra expressway while he was on way to Lucknow to attend the investor’s summit on February 21.

Playing emotional card BJP fielded daughter of Hukum Dingh Mriganka Singh from Kairana Lok Sabha constituency while Avantika wife of Lokendra Singh is BJP’s candidate from the Nurpur constituency.

People who had visited the region say the voters stand polarized on religious and caste lines. As opposition has fielded Tabassum Begum, originally from Samajwadi Party, but has filed paper on RLD ticket, the battle of ballot has taken a Hindu and Muslim turn.

Why the issue like Hindu-Muslim divide taking round in Kairana because the parliamentary seat has 40 per cent minority votes and a large population of Gujjars, both Hindu and Muslim, numbering around 3 lakh

In the 2014 general election, Hukum Singh polled 5,65,909 votes to defeat SP candidate Nahid Hasan by a margin of around 2.3 lakh votes. Nahid’s uncle Kanwar Hasan, the BSP candidate, came third with around 1,60,000 votes. Kartar Bhadana of RLD, which fought in alliance with the Congress party had notched around 42,000 votes.