UP Assembly bypolls: BJP announces candidates for four seats

Lucknow: The BJP on Tuesday declared four candidates for the bypolls which will be held on four assembly constituencies in Uttar Pradesh along with the Lok Sabha elections.

Bharatiya Janata Party declared Arvind Singh as its candidate for the Dadraul assembly constituency, Shailendra Kumar Shailu from the Gainsari assembly constituency and Shravan Gaur from the Duddhi (Reserved) assembly constituency. The party fielded O.P. Srivastava from the Lucknow East assembly constituency. Srivastava is an office bearer of Avadh Kshetra of the party.

Bypoll to four assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be held in four phases simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections.

The bypolls will held in the Dadraul assembly constituency on May 13, Lucknow East on May 20, Gainsari assembly seat on May 25 and Duddhi Assembly segment on June 1.

The party did not give the ticket to the family member of Ashutosh Tandon, whose demise on November 9, 2023, at the age of 63, necessitated a bypoll on the seat.

Arvind Singh, who has been fielded from Dadraul is the son of Manvendra Singh, whose death at the age of 74 on January 5 due to prolonged illness, led to a bypoll on the seat. A three-time MLA from the seat, Tandon was a Cabinet minister in the first government of Yogi Adityanath.

Having been with the Congress for a long time, Manvendra Singh joined the BJP in 2017 and became an MLA from Dadraul. He retained his seat in the 2022 polls. He was 70 when he died.

Shailendra Singh who has been made candidate from Gainsari, was a BJP MLA from the seat between 2017 to 2022. The constituency became vacant following the demise of sitting Samajwadi Party MLA Shiv Pratap Yadav on January 26. He started his political career from Lok Dal and was a four-time MLA from Gainsari.

Shravan Gaur who has been declared nominee from Duddhi is an office bearer of the party's Scheduled Tribe Morcha. Duddhi assembly constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes, fell vacant following the disqualification of the BJP's Ramdular Gond in December 2023 from the House after being convicted in a rape case. Gond was sentenced to 25 years of rigorous imprisonment for raping a girl nine years ago.

According to the Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction" and remain disqualified for another six years after serving time.