Bye-elections in UP tomorrow; Opposition alleges govt machinery being used to influence outcome

Even as seven Assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh go for bypolls tomorrow, the Opposition alleged that officers and government employees in these constituencies have been asked to vote for the ruling party or be ready to face dire consequences.

"This is no less than rigging the elections. The BJP government is using officers to win these bye-elections," senior Congress leader Amarnath Agarwal said.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said that village pradhans, PDS shop owners, lekhpals and lower-rung police personnel were being offered inducements or being intimidated to force people to vote for the ruling party.

“In a blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the Basic Education Minister in the Yogi Adityanath government was seen asking officials to ensure that the votes were cast in BJP’s favour,” Yadav said, urging the Election Commission to deploy Central paramilitary forces to ensure free and fair elections.

Yadav said that the ministers of the Yogi Adityanath government were camping in the poll-bound constituencies to influence the election. “The Chief Minister has assigned the job to these ministers to influence the employees of their departments. They are following the diktats of the Chief Minister in letter and spirit,” he said.

Polling for the by-elections will be held on November 3. The campaigning for the seven Assembly seats ended on Sunday evening.

Congress spokesman Virendra Madan said that the ruling dispensation in UP has been using all tricks in the book to influence the elections. “BJP does not believe in democratic conventions and niceties and the ruling party could stoop to any low to win elections and grab power,” Madan said.

The bye-elections will be held in Malhani (Jaunpur), Tundla (Firozabad), Bunaldshahr, Naugawan Sadat (Amroha), Ghatampur (Kanpur City), Bangarmau (Unnao) and Deoria. Six of these seats were previously held by BJP while Malhani was held by the SP.

The stakes are high for both the ruling BJP and the Opposition parties as the bypolls are said to be a ‘mini Assembly elections’ ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. The Bahujan Samaj Party’s decision to contest the by-elections and the late admission by Mayawati about a ‘secret pact’ with BJP has made the contest interesting.

The election has also given an opportunity to the resurgent Congress to fathom electoral waters in the crucial state.

Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has appealed to voters to vote for BSP in the by polls. “I appeal to the voters to make the BSP candidates successful so that the right political message goes to the rivals,” she said in a tweet in Hindi.