SP to face test for Assembly elections 2012 during bypolls

LUCKNOW: With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections scheduled for 2012, the Samajwadi Party will be testing the electoral mood in two of its strong bastions of Lakhimpur and Nidhauli Kalan, going for bypolls on November 20.

Political observers feel that victory in the two by-elections is essential for the Samajwadi Party to reassert its hold over the electorate, especially in the absence of the ruling BSP which has decided to stay away from the two bypolls.

The demise of the sitting MLAs on both these seats belonging to the Samajwadi Party has necessitated the by-elections and the party hopes to capitalise on the sympathy wave by fielding the family members of the party veterans to retain the seats in the face of adversities.

The party, grappling to regain hold over its Yadav-Muslim votebank after parting ways with former BJP leader Kalyan Singh, will however be forced to face the challenge of not only Congress and BJP but also Singh whose Jankranti Party will also be making its electoral debut from Nidhauli Kalan, a part of his Etah parliamentary constituency.

The Peace Party of Mohammad Ayub, holding sway among the Muslims, would also give a strong competition to the SP which has entered into the fray in Lakhimpur keeping in mind the sizeable presence of minorities in the constituency.

In Lakhimpur, SP has pinned its hopes on Utkarsha Verma, an MBA-turned-politician grandson of the party's three time MLA Kaushal Kishore, while in Nidhauli Kalan it has fielded Amit Gaurav Yadav, son of its late MLA, Anil Kumar Singh.

Though BSP is not directly in the fray, in Lakhimpur it has extended support to independent Rajey Ali Siddiqui making the contest more interesting.