‘Old trick of BJP’: Akhilesh on rescheduling of UP assembly by-polls

As the Election Commission on 4 November, Monday, rescheduled the assembly by-polls from 13 November to 20 November for all nine seats in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged that this is an old trick of the BJP to avoid losing elections.

'First the Milkipur by-election was postponed, now the date of by-elections for the rest of the seats has been rescheduled. The BJP was never so weak,' he said in a post in Hindi on X.

Yadav further said that if they (BJP) postpone it, they will lose even worse.

'The fact is that due to maha berozgari (huge unemployment) in UP, people who go to different parts of the country for work have come to UP on Diwali and Chhath holidays. They were going to vote in the by-elections to defeat the BJP.

'As soon as the BJP understood this, it postponed the by-elections, so that people's holidays end and they go back without casting their vote,' the former chief minister said, adding that this is one of the BJP's old tricks.

The Election Commission rescheduled assembly by-elections to all nine and four seats in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, respectively, and one seat in Kerala from 13 November to 20 November, citing the festivals and the urgings of several political parties.

Parties including the Congress, BJP, BSP and RLD had urged the poll body to reschedule the polls in view of various festivals, saying that it could impact voter turnout.

The BJP, BSP and RLD had said that in UP, people travel for 3-4 days ahead of Kartik Purnima, which will be celebrated on 15 November.

When asked about the SP chief's allegations, state BJP spokesperson Manish Shukla said, "The by-poll date shift was demanded as the date coincided with Hindu festival. But the Samajwadi Party has to do politics in everything. More so in this case, as they are least bothered about majoritarian sentiment but about their vote bank."

In UP, the nine assembly seats going to the polls include Katehari (Ambedkar Nagar), Karhal (Mainpuri), Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad, Majhawan (Mirzapur), Sishamau (Kanpur City), Khair (Aligarh), Phulpur (Prayagraj) and Kundarki (Moradabad).

Eight of these seats fell vacant after their MLAs were elected as Lok Sabha MPs, while the by-poll is being held on the Sisamau seat due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.