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UP By-election: BJP names Dara Singh Chauhan as its candidate from Ghosi
After quitting as SP lawmaker, Chauhan who was a cabinet minister in the first Yogi government (2017-2022), rejoined the BJP which has now named him as its candidate on the seat.
The Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday named OBC leader Dara Singh Chauhan as its candidate from Ghosi assembly seat, from where he had won on a Samajwadi Party symbol in 2022 UP polls, just over a year ago.
After quitting as SP lawmaker, Chauhan who was a cabinet minister in the first Yogi government (2017-2022), rejoined the BJP which has now named him as its candidate on the seat.
Chauhan will be up against former Ghosi MLA and Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh.
This is the first by-poll in UP ever since Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) rejoined the NDA. The SBSP, which boasts of support from Rajbhars, the key OBC group with a strategic presence in Ghosi, has already begun campaigning for Chauhan in Ghosi.
The SP candidate will, in all likelihood, have the backing of the Congress and the RLD and the BSP is unlikely to contest the by-poll, though a formal announcement is still awaited.
The RLD and Congress, most of the time, had been supporting the SP in bypolls since 2018 and now three parties are part of the opposition alliance.
The expansion cum rejig of the Yogi 2.0 is expected either immediately after Independence Day or after September 8 when the results of the by-polls are known. Both Dara Singh as well as SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar are widely expected to be sworn in as cabinet ministers in the Yogi government that has 52 ministers at the moment and can have accommodate 8 more.
“It’s a no-contest. With SBSP’s backing, Dara Singh ji would win by a record margin,” said SBSP leader Arun Rajbhar.
“We will win by a big margin. The SP will know where it stands,” said UP BJP spokesman Harish Srivastava.
While Dara Singh had won the Ghosi seat in 2022, his rival Sudhakar Singh had won the same seat in the 2012 assembly polls as an SP candidate but lost it to BJP’s Phagu Chauhan in 2017. When Phagu Chauhan was sent as Governor of Bihar, Sudhakar had contested the bypolls as SP candidate and lost to BJP’s Vijay Rajbhar.
SP national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary said, “We will win the elections as public support is with us and against the BJP”.
The notification for the by-polls was issued by the Election Commission on August 10, the last date for nomination filing is August 17, voting will be held on December 5 and results will be declared on December 8.
