Phulpur, Gorakhpur Lok Sabha Bypolls 2018: Akhilesh Yadav Pins Hope in Samajwadi-Nishad-Peace Party Alliance to Wrest Seats From BJP
The bypoll will be held on March 11 and the results will be out on March 14.
Lucknow, Feb 18: For the upcoming by polls for the Lok Sabha seats of Phulpur and Gorakhpur, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav has inked pacts with the Nishad Party and the Peace Party. The move came days after the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party sidestepped his proposal to form a secular coalition to take against the BJP in this round of by-elections.
From Gorakhpur constituency, the Nishad Party leader Praveen Nishad, son of party chief Dr Sanjay Nishad, would contest on the SP symbol. The seat houses over 3.5 lakh members of Nishad sub-caste. The Peace Party, which has been roped in by Akhilesh, also enjoys a considerable clout among the region's Muslim populace.
"I have decided to join hands with smaller parties. We would together pose a fight against the BJP and defeat them," Akhilesh told reporters here.
Earlier, the Congress, which allied with SP in the assembly polls last year, decided to go solo in the Lok Sabha bypolls. The party has announced Surhita Chatterjee as its candidate from Gorakhpur, whereas, Manish Mishra will be the party nominee in Phulpur.
The seats fall vacant after Yogi Adityanath, the MP from Gorakhpur and Keshav Prasad Maurya, the lawmaker from Phulpur, were inducted into the BJP-led government in the state as Chief Minister Deputy Chief Minister respectively.
The bypoll will be held on March 11 and the results will be out on March 14, the Election Commission said.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 18, 2018 06:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).