Mayawati to Support SP in Uttar Pradesh Bypolls, BSP Won’t Contest

In a historic move, the SP and the BSP will join hands ahead of the Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls.

Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Video Producer: Anmol Saini
Video Editor: Mohd Irshad Alam

In a major and historic political development in Uttar Pradesh, two bitter rivals, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), are set to join hands in ahead of the upcoming bypolls in the state.

The BSP will not field any candidate in the upcoming bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur and the party supporters will be voting for the candidates of the SP in the two constituencies, party supremo Mayawati said.

She further clarified that any news of an alliance with the SP in 2019 elections are baseless, reported ANI.

I want to clarify that the BSP has not allied with any political party. All rumours about BSP-SP alliance in UP for 2019 Lok Sabha elections are false and baseless.

Mayawati

She also said that the transfer of votes does not hint towards any alliance.

Ashok Gautam, BSP Zonal Coordinator, Allahabad said, “Our workers want to eliminate the BJP and that is why the members of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) have decided to extend support and vote for the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Nagendra Singh Patel in Phulpur bypoll.”

The bypolls were necessitated after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats respectively, following their election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

For the BJP, Gorakhpur is significant as it is the bastion of the chief minister, who has represented the seat in the Lok Sabha five times. Prior to Yogi Adityanath, the seat was thrice represented in Parliament by his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath.

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According to PTI, Phulpur was once the bastion of the Congress and represented by India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It had, for the first time, witnessed a saffron surge in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, when Maurya won the seat.

The bypolls are expected to witness a triangular contest among the ruling BJP, the SP-BSP and the Congress.

The BJP has fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur. Sureetha Kareem is the Congress candidate from Gorakhpur. The party has fielded Manish Mishra from Phulpur.

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