Pressure on BJP After Congress, Samajwadi Party Announce Candidates for Gorakhpur and Phoolpur By-elections

Lucknow: With just a day left in filing nominations for Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is now under pressure to announce their candidates.

Main opposition parties like the Congress and Samajwadi Party have already made public their entrants for the by-elections to be held on March 11.

The Congress was the first to announce the names of their candidate on February 16, followed by SP on February 18. Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Raj Babbar tweeted that general secretary of state Congress, Manish Mishra will be the candidate from Phulpur, while Surhita Chatterjee Karim will contest from Gorakhpur.

Manish Mishra is the son of senior IAS officer JS Mishra, who later went on to become Indira Gandhi’s personal secretary in the late seventies. Senior Congress leader Surhita Karim runs a nursing home in Gorakhpur and stood in the Mayoral elections of the district in 2012.

On Sunday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav announced that his party will contest the Gorakhpur bypolls in alliance with Peace Party and Nishad Party. The alliance announced Praveen Kumar Nishad as their candidate. Praveen happens to be the son of Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad.

Both Peace Party and Nishad Party are said to have a good influence in the Purvanchal region. For Phulpur, the SP has fielded Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel.

Candidate selection will be key for the BJP in Phulpur. The constituency will share the spotlight with Gorakhpur, the Lok Sabha seat vacated by CM Yogi Adityanath. The counting for both seats will be held on March 14.

Local BJP leaders have already begun putting up posters and hoardings, portraying them as potential candidates. Speculations, though, point out that the party may announce a backward caste candidate for Phulpur. However, for Gorakhpur, the major decision would be whether to choose someone associated with the Gorakhnath Math (temple of the Nath monastic group) or someone from outside it.

The Math continues have a major influence on the voters in the region.