Uttar Pradesh Bypolls: Face Off Between Apna Dal(S) And Samajwadi Party In Suar, Chhanbey

In both seats, there is a head-to-head competition between the ruling coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party.

Voting has begun in the assembly seats of Suar and Chhanbey in Uttar Pradesh.

Source : ABP Live

New Delhi: Voting has begun in the assembly seats of Suar and Chhanbey in Uttar Pradesh. The polling process will continue till 6 pm in the evening.

In both seats, there is a head-to-head competition between the ruling coalition and the opposition Samajwadi Party. The Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to not contest the by-elections, while the Congress has fielded its candidate only in Chhanbey.

While the outcome of the bypolls will not directly affect the constitution of the assembly, it holds significant importance as a confidence booster for the winner ahead of next year's Lok Sabha elections.

All eyes will be set on the Suar seat in Rampur district, as it was held by Abdullah Azam Khan, the son of senior SP leader Azam Khan, before it was declared vacant on February 13 after a Moradabad court sentenced the young leader to two years in jail for a 15-year-old case.

Azam Khan himself was disqualified from the Assembly last year after a court sentenced him to three years in jail in a hate speech case.

In the 2022 UP Assembly election, Abdullah Azam Khan had defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)'s Haidar Ali Khan on the Suar sear by a margin of over 61,000 votes.

This time, the Samajwadi Party has fielded Anuradha Chauhan from the seat and Apna Dal (Sonelal) has named Shafeek Ahmed Ansari.

A total of 774 polling booths have been set up by the Election Commission at 492 polling centres in the two constituencies, while there are 6.62 lakh (3.51 lakh mail, 3.11 lakh female and 82 third gender) eligible voters.

A total of 14 candidates are in the fray - six in Suar and eight in Chhanbey.

In the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the ruling BJP has 255 MLAs, and its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) and the NISHAD Party have 11 and six legislators, respectively.

The Samajwadi Party has 109 MLAs while its ally the Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine. The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each and the Bahujan Samaj Party has one member in the assembly. 

The counting of votes will take place on May 13.