Election Commission Announces Bypolls For Nine Assembly Seats In Uttar Pradesh

The Election Commission on Friday issued the notification for the upcoming bye-elections to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, a senior official said. According to the EC, the last date of making nominations is Oct. 25, while scrutiny of the nomination papers will be held on Oct. 28.

The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is Oct. 30.

Voting will be held on Nov. 13, while counting of votes will take place on Nov. 23.

The EC on Tuesday announced that bypolls to nine of the 10 vacant assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, except Milkipur of Ayodhya district, will be held on Nov. 13. Bypoll to the Milkipur assembly seat was not announced as an election petition is pending in the high court against the candidate who had won the seat earlier.

Meanwhile, officials at the office of UP's Chief Electoral Officer on Friday said that they have forwarded to the Election Commission of India the letter by the BJP, asking the poll authority to postpone the bypoll dates from Nov. 13 to Nov. 20 in view of Kartik Purnima.

A BJP delegation led by state general secretary Govind Narain Shukla had on Thursday met Uttar Pradesh additional chief electoral officer and handed over a letter of their demands to him.

The delegation said Kartik Purnima is on Nov. 15. It is known that on this occasion in the state, a large number of people take bath, it said.

People reach Kundarki (in Moradabad), Meerapur (in Muzaffarnagar), Ghaziabad and Prayagraj three-four days in advance to perform puja. Many people may be deprived of voting due to this, the delegation had noted.

The assembly seats where bypolls will be held are Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Kundarki, Phulpur, Sisamau, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair.

Eight of these assembly seats fell vacant after its MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha, while bypoll in Sisamau is being held due to the disqualification of SP MLA Irfan Solanki, who was convicted in a criminal case.

In the 2022 assembly polls, Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal, Milkipur and Kundarki were held by the Samajwadi Party, while the BJP had won Phulpur, Ghaziabad, and Khair. The Meerapur seat was held by the RLD, while the Majhawan seat was won by the NISHAD party.