UP Assembly Bypolls: Nine Seats To Vote On November 13, Results On November 23

The Election Commission of India has set November 13 as the date for the Assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh, with the counting and announcement of results slated for November 23. These by-elections, coinciding with the Maharashtra and Jharkhand Assembly elections results, will fill vacancies in nine assembly seats across the state. This electoral contest is anticipated to be a crucial measure of support for the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government, particularly following the party’s recent challenges in the state during the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The seats up for grabs in the by-elections have previously been contested fiercely. In the 2022 Assembly Elections, the Samajwadi Party claimed victory in four of these seats, the BJP secured three, while the Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Nishad Party, both allies within the NDA, won one seat each. The constituencies to watch include Meerapur, Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Karhal, Sishamau, Phulpur, Katehari, and Majhawan.

The necessity for by-elections in these particular seats stems from a variety of circumstances. Several seats became vacant as incumbents resigned to contest in the Lok Sabha election and won, including Samajwadi Party leaders Lalji Verma from Katehari and Akhilesh Yadav from Karhal, along with others from both the BJP and its allies. Additionally, the Sisamau seat in Kanpur Nagar was left empty following Samajwadi Party's Hazi Irfan Solanki's disqualification due to a court ruling.

However, the Assembly by-elections will not include the Milkipur seat, which remains vacant after Samajwadi Party's Awadhesh Prasad was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Ayodhya seat. This decision has not been elaborated upon by the Election Commission, leaving some speculation about the reasons behind the omission.