Bypolls to 10 UP Assembly seats a litmus test for BJP

LUCKNOW: After the setback in Lok Sabha elections, the BJP appears to have pulled out all the stops to secure victory in the forthcoming bypolls to 10 Uttar Pradesh assembly seats, which experts consider as a litmus test for the ruling party ahead of the 2027 state polls.

Top five BJP leaders, including CM Yogi Adityanath, have taken charge of two seats each as per a strategy finalised at a recent meeting of Yogi’s ‘Team 30’. Yogi has taken command of two tough constituencies — Milkipur in Ayodhya and Katehari in Ambedkarnagar.

Deputy CMs Keshav Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhury and party state general secretary (organisation) Dharampal Singh have been allotted two seats. Phoolpur (Prayagraj) and Majhanwa (Mirzapur) have been assigned to Maurya, Sisamau (Kanpur) and Karhal (Mainpuri), both SP strongholds, to Pathak, Meerapur (Muzaffarnagar) and Kundarki (Moradabad) to Chaudhary, and Khair (Aligarh) and Ghaziabad to Dharampal Singh, party leaders say.

Yogi has already hit the ground in Ayodhya a day after taking on the responsibility for Milkipur segment, vacated by SP’s Awadhesh Prasad who emerged a giant killer by winning the Faizabad Lok Sabha seat.

“Winning Milkipur is of utmost importance for the ruling party after it lost in Ayodhya, the epicentre of the Ram temple movement,” a party leader said. On a visit to Ayodhya on Tuesday and Wednesday, Yogi reviewed the preparations for Milkipur bypoll with election in-charges and party leaders, exhorting them to ensure proper booth management.

Yogi called upon party workers to counter the opposition’s attempts to mislead people, pointing out “false narratives’ in LS polls. “The involvement of five top leaders is the party’s conscious effort to present a united front to ensure victory in the bypolls,” a party strategist said.

Political experts say that though bypoll results will not affect the stability of Yogi government but they will help the ruling party in winning the battle of perception after the setback in LS elections.

Yogi called upon party workers to counter the opposition’s attempts to mislead people, pointing out “false narratives’ in LS polls. Yogi has already hit the ground in Ayodhya a day after taking on the responsibility for Milkipur segment