Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad says his convoy shot at in UP

Lucknow, Oct 25: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Sunday claimed that his convoy was shot at in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahr district when he was campaigning for the upcoming by-elections for that assembly seat.

"The Opposition parties are scared of our candidate in Bulandshahr elections, and today's rally had made them sleepless, which is why my convoy was fired at today in a cowardly manner," Azad tweeted in Hindi.

"This shows that they are desperate (and) they want to turn the atmosphere toxic, but we won't let that happen," he added.

Though the BJP has a comfortable majority in the Assembly, the by-elections are a fight for prestige for the Adityanath government which has been criticised over the recent Hathras case and its handling of law and order, including the police encounters.

It is also the first electoral test for the party since the COVID-19 outbreak.

The seven Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where by-polls will be held include Naugaon which fell vacant after the death of minister Chetan Chauhan.

The by-election was necessitated in Ghatampur (Kanpur) as sitting MLA and minister Kamal Rani Varun died, while in Tundla (Firozabad) the sitting MLA, SP Singh Baghel, got elected to Lok Sabha.

The Bangarmau (Unnao) seat fell vacant following the conviction of Kuldeep Singh Sengar.

The seats of Bulandshahr, Deoria and Malhani will have by-election due to the demise of sitting MLAs Virendra Singh Sirohi, Janmejay Singh and Parasnath Yadav (SP).