Hurt with Lok Sabha polls defeat, SP targets BJP seats in by-polls

LUCKNOW: Barely two months after its drubbing in Lok Sabha elections at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) has set an audacious target of snatching some seats held by the BJP in the upcoming assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh.

The SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has hand-picked senior ministers and made them in-charge of the 12 assembly seats which will go to the polls towards the end of the year. Such is the seriousness of the SP leadership to win these seats currently held by the BJP that in most places it has deputed more than one minister and clearly told them they would be held accountable for the poll outcome.

Yadav has told party leaders that the Lok Sabha polls had different dynamics than the assembly bypolls, which present an opportunity to the party to score some points against the BJP. The SP is also bolstered by the fact that its regional rival Bahujan Samaj Party is not contesting the bypolls and the Congress has retreated into a shell making it a direct contest between the BJP and SP unlike the Lok Sabha polls which saw a split in the non-BJP votes.

In recent Lok Sabha polls, the BJP won 71 seats while its ally Apna Dal bagged two seats, making it a clean sweep for the saffron party. However, the BJP victory saw 11 of its MLAs being elected to the Lok Sabha along with Apna Dal ally Anupriya Patel.

The bypolls have been necessitated due to these newly elected MPs vacating their assembly seats in constituencies that are clearly BJP strongholds.