Leave Gujarat-Himachal, will the results of the by-elections on these 7 seats force the leaders to think again?

Assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are over and speculations are on. Amidst the fight between BJP and Congress, the performance of the Aam Aadmi Party is also being watched. Be that as it may, apart from the elections in these two states, the much-awaited MCD elections have been held in Delhi, where the contest is only between BJP and AAP. In this atmosphere of elections, there is a litmus test for many big and small political parties of UP, Rajasthan, Odisha, Bihar, and Chhattisgarh, there are by-elections for 6 assembly seats in these states and the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat of UP.

These by-elections in UP are more interesting because the main contest seems to be between the Samajwadi Party and the BJP. Azam Khan's Rampur and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Mainpuri Lok Sabha seats can see tough competition.

Mainpuri Lok Sabha Seat

The Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat fell vacant after the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav in October. Here, along with the legacy of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, everything of the Samajwadi Party is at stake. This election is being seen as the semi-final of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The result of the Mainpuri seat will decide the political stature of Akhilesh in the politics of the country. Not only UP but the whole country is watching the result of this election whether SP will be able to retain the seat which Mulayam has won five times since 1996, including the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. If the BJP wins this seat, it will be a big blow to the opposition party as the SP recently lost its bastion Azamgarh.

SP has fielded Dimple Yadav, wife of party president Akhilesh Yadav, on this seat. On the other hand, the candidate from BJP is Raghuraj Singh Shakya, who was a former aide of Akhilesh's uncle Shivpal Yadav.

Bhanupratappur by-election

Sitting Congress Manoj Singh Mandavi died of a heart attack on 16 October. Due to his sudden demise, the Naxalite-affected Bhanupratappur assembly seat of Chhattisgarh fell vacant, and voting for the by-election was held on 5 December. The results of this by-election will also come on December 8. Although the results will not have any significant impact on the government, due to this victory in the assembly elections to be held next year, the winning party will get stronger.

According to the information given by the election officials, about 1 lakh 95 thousand, 678 voters will cast their votes in this by-election. Of which 1, 491 are women and third gender. Apart from this, 95, 186 men are voting. There are seven candidates in the Bhanupratappur seat, but this contest is being seen as a direct fight between Congress and BJP. The Congress has fielded Mandavi's wife Savitri, while former MLA Brahmanand Netam is in the fray from the BJP.

Khatauli by-election

The by-election was announced on this seat after the cancellation of the membership of BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini. In fact, in the Muzaffarnagar riots case of 2013, on 11 October 2022, the special court of Muzaffarnagar found Vikram Saini guilty of the riots and sentenced him to 2 years imprisonment. For this reason, his assembly membership was canceled on November 4.

At present, Madan Bhaiya is in the fray from the RLD-SP alliance in the by-election for the Khatauli assembly seat. On the other hand, BJP has fielded Rajkumari Saini, wife of Vikram Singh Saini. BSP and Congress have stayed away from the contest.

BJP needs to win this seat because BJP MLA Vikram Singh Saini has been elected as MLA for two consecutive terms. For the first time in the year 2017, he defeated SP's Chandan Singh Chauhan by 31,374 votes. On the other hand, Vikram Saini won once in the by-election held in the year 2022. He defeated Rajpal Singh Saini of RLD by 16,345 votes.

Kurhani (3.11 lakh voters)

In October, a CBI court disqualified Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA Anil Kumar Sahni from the Bihar Legislative Assembly, convicted in a cheating case. After which the by-election was held on this seat. Everyone's eye is on the result of this seat also because this is the first election battle after the break-up of the alliance between JDU and BJP in August. RJD has given its full support to JDU. The result of this by-election will show whether RJD can transfer its votes to its ally.

Thirteen candidates are in the fray for this seat but the contest is mainly between JDU's Manoj Singh Kushwaha and BJP's Kedar Gupta, both of whom have already won this seat.

Padampur (2.57 lakh voters)

Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MLA Bijay Ranjan Singh Bariha passed away in October, following which a by-election was held on the seat. BJD had not lost a single by-election since 2008 on this seat. But by winning the Dhampur by-election last month, BJP ended this chain of BJD's victory. Everyone's eyes are on the result of this election because the BJP is hoping to repeat its success once again. At the same time, how important this seat is for BJD, it is also known that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik started campaigning for the first time in three years last week.

There are 10 candidates in the fray for this seat. BJD has fielded 29-year-old lawyer Bijay's daughter Varsha Singh Bariha. BJP candidate is former MLA Pradeep Purohit. Purohit lost to Bijaya in 2019 by 5,734 votes.

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