Bypolls after Diwali, CM in Gzb today to galvanise BJP workers

Ghaziabad: With assembly byelections to the constituency likely after Diwali, chief minister Yogi Adityanath will be in Ghaziabad on Friday to meet BJP office bearers and party workers, and possibly pick a candidate from the seat which fell vacant after incumbent Atul Garg was elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year.
The CM’s visit is seen as an attempt to galvanise party workers ahead of the crucial byelections, especially in light of the party’s performance in the Lok Sabha elections in the state, where its seats dropped to 33 from the 62 it secured in 2019.In a closely fought election, the INDIA bloc wrested 43 seats with the SP obtaining 37 seats and the Congress six.
BJP district media in-charge Pradeep Choudhary told TOI that the CM was scheduled to hold meetings with the party’s office bearers at Hindi Bhawan on Friday afternoon and address booth-level workers later in the day. “We expect the dates for the byelection will be announced after Diwali, which falls in Oct this year. With barely two months at hand, preparations have been started in the district. The CM’s visit will rejuvenate party workers,” he said.
Choudhary said at least 13 office bearers have evinced interest in contesting from the seat. Besides Ghaziabad, byelections will be held to Milkipur, Karhal, Katehari, Kundarki, Khair, Meerapur, Manjhawan, Phulpur and Sisamau assembly seats later this year. The SP won five of these seats in the 2022 Assembly polls. Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), then an SP ally and now in the BJP-led NDA, won one. The BJP bagged three — Ghaziabad, Phulpur, and Khair — constituencies, and its ally Nishad Party won one seat.
Political analyst Sanjay Mishra said after BJP was outwitted by the INDIA alliance in the Lok Sabha elections in UP there was a lot of brainstorming within the BJP. It also opened up some fissures as many party leaders openly blamed each other for the sub-par performance. “For BJP, the byelections is a prestige issue. With the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP having an edge over five seats it won in 2022 assembly polls, it comes as no surprise that the BJP will make an assertive bid ahead of a high-stake square off in the bypolls,” he added.