This will also be the first NDA vs INDIA battle since the opposition bloc came together. (News18)
Political analysts said wooing OBC voters seems to be cakewalk for BJP this time, especially after the induction of SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar and Dara Singh Chauhan and other 18 bigwigs belonging to OBC and SC communities
The Ghosi bypoll is all set to be a BJP vs SP battle — also the first-ever NDA VS INDIA fight — as candidates of the two parties filed their nominations while Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) refrained from putting up faces even on the last day of filing nominations for the by-election to Mau’s Ghosi assembly constituency.
SP’s Sudhakar Singh and 13 other candidates filed their nominations on Thursday. BJP pick and SP rebel Dara Singh Chauhan had filed his nomination on Wednesday amidst a grand ‘Namankan Sabha’ (nomination rally), which was seen as a bid to display ‘strength’ and ‘unity’. The bypoll was necessitated after the resignation of Chauhan who joined the ruling BJP last month. The constituency will go to polls on September 5 and results will be declared on September 8.
“On the last day of filing nominations, 13 candidates, including SP’s Sudhakar Singh, filed nominations. In totality, 17 candidates from different parties have filed their nominations,” said Suresh Kumar, returning officer, Ghosi assembly seat.
UP’s political analysts called BJP’s decision to field Chauhan from Ghosi an attempt to woo the Other Backward Caste (OBC) voters who play a deciding factor not only in Ghosi but also in the east UP region because of their sizable population.
“Wooing OBC voters seems to be cakewalk for BJP this time, especially after the induction of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) chief Om Prakash Rajbhar in the NDA and induction of Chauhan and other 18 bigwigs belonging to OBC and SC communities,” a political analyst said.
In the 2022 assembly elections, Chauhan was elected MLA from Ghosi seat on an SP ticket by defeating BJP’s Vijay Rajbhar. However, in July this year, he resigned from his assembly membership and joined BJP.
“Chauhan is a popular figure in the Ghosi region but his image as a party-hopper may play spoilsport. Chauhan entered politics with BSP in 1996, switched to SP in 2000, joined back BSP in 2009, joined BJP in 2015, then joined SP in 2022 and is now came back to BJP in 2023,” the expert added.
SP’s candidate Sudhakar Singh too is a familiar face in the Ghosi assembly seat. Sudhakar had won the Ghosi assembly seat in 2012 by defeating Fagu Chauhan of BSP and Mukhtar Ansari of Qaumi Ekta Dal (QED). Political experts said chances of victory are brighter for Sudhakar as Akhilesh Yadav’s party is not only eyeing the OBC and SC voters but also focusing on the anti-BJP voters in the constituency where there are around 60,000 Rajbhar voters, 50,000 Chauhan (Nonia-OBC), around 40,000 Yadavs (they are all OBCs) and 60,000 Dalits. There are around 90,000 Muslim votes.
Sudhakar Singh, who is an ex-MLA from Ghosi, in a recent statement to the media said: “The BJP will lose elections. People will defeat Dara Singh Chauhan and send him back. He has been an MLA from the seat multiple times but has not done anything for people.”
