BJP Fields Dara Singh Chouhan for Ghosi in UP, Names Candidates for U’khand, Kerala Assembly Bypolls – News18

The BJP on Monday named Dara Singh Chouhan as its candidate for the Ghosi Assembly seat for the upcoming bypoll in Uttar Pradesh.

The party has fielded Parvati Das for the by-election to the Bageshwar Assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Lijinlal G for the Puthuppally Assembly seat in Kerala.

The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has approved the names of these candidates, a party leader said.

The Ghosi seat in Uttar Pradesh fell vacant after Chauhan, a sitting MLA of the Samajwadi Party then, resigned to join the BJP while the Bageshwar seat in Uttarakhand fell vacant after the demise of sitting MLA Chandan Ram Das.

Puthuppally assembly seat in Kerala fell vacant following the demise of Congress veteran Oommen Chandy.

Chauhan, an OBC leader, quit the Samajwadi Party and returned to the BJP fold last month. He had joined the Samajwadi party in January last year after resigning as minister from the Yogi Adityanath government ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Chauhan belongs to OBC ’Noniya’ caste, which has a significant presence in over half-a-dozen parliamentary seats in eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Ghosi, Pratapgah, Azamgarh and Mau.

He represented the Madhuban Assembly constituency in Mau district from 2017 to 2022. He also represented the Ghosi seat in the 15th Lok Sabha for the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).

In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he was defeated by BJP candidate Harinarayan Rajbhar by more than 1.4 lakh votes.

Chauhan had earlier joined the BJP in 2015 and was appointed as the party’s OBC Morcha president and fielded from the Madhuban Assembly constituency.

Bypolls to seven assembly seats, including Ghosi, Puthuppally, and Bageshwar are scheduled to be held on September 5. The counting of votes will take place on September 8.

The bypolls will be held for two seats in Tripura, and one seat each in Jharkhand and West Bengal. The by-election to the Dumri assembly seat in Jharkhand was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA Jagarnath Mahto.

Boxanagar and Dhanpur seats in Tripura will go for bypoll due to the demise of sitting MLA Samsul Haque and the resignation of Pratima Bhoumik.

Dhupguri Assembly seat in West Bengal was vacated following the death of sitting assembly member Bishnu Pada Ray.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)