The polling for Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha bye-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur has begun. State chief minister Yogi Adityanath was seen voting at a polling booth in Gorakhpur constituency. The bypolls in the two constituencies were necessitated after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated their seats in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, respectively, on taking their office.
In Gorakhpur, the key contenders are Upendra Shukla from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Praveen Nishad from Samajwadi Party (SP) and Surhita Chatterjee Karim from Congress. Meanwhile, candidates in the fray for the Phulpur seat are Kaushalendra Singh Patel from the BJP, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from the SP and Manish Mishra from the Congress.
For these bypolls, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the SP have set aside their rivalry to join forces. Voting for Bihar Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections has also begun. The parliamentary constituency of Araria and two assembly seats -Jehanabad and Bhabua- are witnessing the polling. The bypolls are being seen as a litmus test for Chief Minister Nitish Kumar after he pulled out of the state’s grand alliance and joined the BJP.
