UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary.
The Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-election contest is turning out to be very interesting, but the Election Commission has changed the date of polling. Now voting on 9 seats in the state will be held on November 20 instead of November 13. The Election Commission has changed the voting date of the by-elections due to the Kartik Purnima toilet fair. BJP and RLD were continuously requesting to change the date. Now, after the Election Commission’s decision, the RLD breathed a sigh of relief in Meerapur and the BJP also got relief.
The dates of by-elections to nine UP seats have been announced along with the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The polling date was announced on November 13 for the by-elections to all 9 UP seats along with the first phase of Jharkhand. The UP by-elections were considered to be the semi-finals of 2027, so both the ruling party and the opposition had put in all their strength, but due to the festival of Kartik Purnima, the political tension of the BJP-RLD alliance had increased.
The vote will now take place on November 20.
The Election Commission had earlier fixed the polling date for the by-elections on November 13 and Kartik Purnima’s vote will be on November 15. The Ganges bath is after two days of voting. In such a situation, what is the reason why the RLD and the BJP faced problems due to which they appealed to the Election Commission to postpone the polling date of November 13? In such a situation, the Election Commission changed the dates of the by-elections, accepting the views of the BJP and the RLD. The voting date that will be held on November 13 has been changed to November 20.
In Uttar Pradesh, the bathing festival of Kartik Purnima and the cult of the Ganges have religious significance. Kartik Purnima bathing festival is on November 15. On the day of Kartik Purnima, a large number of people go to bathe and worship, but on the occasion of Kartik Purnima, people gather on the banks of Ganga three to four days in advance at Kundarki, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhwan and Prayagraj. Due to Kartik Purnima, the BJP and RLD alliance was worried about the possibility of people from the majority community being deprived of the vote. Due to this, there was a danger of low turnout in the Hindu polls, so the delegation of BJP and RLD leaders met the Election Commission and requested to change the date.
RLD got great relief
RLD chief and Union minister Jayant Chaudhary had won the Meerapur seat two-and-a-half years ago with the support of the SP, but has now joined hands with the BJP. In 2022 elections, the same RLD which won the Meerapur seat with the help of Jat-Muslim-Gurjar equation, now in the by-elections, the same RLD is trying to maintain its political supremacy by placing the chessboard between Hindus and Muslims. but the political tension of the Kartik Purnima fair has increased. In such a situation, has the challenge arisen for RLD to save the Meerapur seat?
Jayant’s first test before Lok Sabha elections
The RLD had contested the Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the BJP and managed to win both its quota seats. After joining the BJP, Jayant’s first test in the assembly elections will be from the Meerapur seat. RLD managed to win the Meerapur seat in 2022 with the support of SP, but after Chandan Chauhan became MP, by-elections are being held in the seat, from where Mithlesh Pal was named as the candidate. In Mirapur seat, which has over 1.25 lakh Muslim voters, SP had fielded Sumbul Rana, BSP had fielded Shah Nazar, Azad Samaj Party had fielded Zahid Hussain and AIMIM had fielded Arshad Rana. . Due to the threat of dispersion of Muslim votes, Jayant Choudhary was hopeful of his victory, but the Kartik Purnika fair had increased political tension.
The postponement of the elections is a political lifeline for the RLD.
More than 10 thousand people from the Hindu community of Meerapur assembly headquarters reach the Shukratirtha fair in Muzaffarnagar four to five days before Kartik Purnima and camp there and stay there till Kartik Purnima. RLD was facing political tension which, due to the November 13 vote, could upset its political equation in Meerpur. The RLD would be threatened if it were deprived of between eight and ten thousand votes in the by-elections. In such a situation, the Electoral Commission has given a big relief to the RLD by setting the voting date on November 20. Voting is five days after Kartik Purnika, so people will return after bathing and partying. In this way, it is nothing less than a political lifeline for RLD.
The BJP also achieved political peace.
There was political tension not only for the RLD but also for the BJP due to Kartik Purnika’s fair by-election. Due to Kartika Purnika, there was a danger of disturbing the BJP’s political equation in Ghaziabad, Kundarki, Phulpur, Majhwan, Katehri and Khair seats. A large number of people from these seats arrive three to four days in advance to bathe in the Ganga on the occasion of Kartik Purnima. The BJP was also in danger of increasing political tension because a large number of Hindu voters were going to bathe in the Ganges when voting took place on November 13, but the Election Commission has given relief by fixing the voting date on November 20 instead of November 13. People will easily return to their homes after five days of Kartik Purnika. In such a situation, BJP got a big relief by changing the date.
