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U.P. MLC bypoll: BJP names Dara Singh Chauhan as its candidate
Each MLC is elected for six years but since Chauhan has been named an MLC on the seat held earlier by Dinesh Sharma, his tenure would be till January 30, 2027
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named former Uttar Pradesh minister Dara Singh Chauhan, an OBC leader, as its candidate for the January 30 bypoll to the lone seat that has fallen vacant in the state’s legislative council, months after he lost an assembly by-election.
The BJP’s selection against the vacancy, caused after former deputy CM Dinesh Sharma resigned on September 13 last year as an MLC following his election to the Rajya Sabha, has raised the prospect of an expansion of the Yogi government, BJP leaders indicate. The BJP named Chauhan as its candidate a day after Makar Sankranti, after which Hindus undertake auspicious tasks, party leaders added.
“His being named as an MLC candidate merely underscores the fact that a possible expansion of the Yogi Adityanath government is now due and can happen soon. When that happens given the fact that Chauhan is set to become an MLC, his entry into the Yogi government appears highly likely,” a BJP leader said.
“The SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, also an OBC leader, too is fancying his chances as the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is looking to ensure that the broad social coalition it has assiduously put together since 2014 stays intact in the politically key state of U.P.,” the BJP leader added. Rajbhar had earlier said, though not for the first time, that there was a big possibility of the expansion of Yogi 2.0 after Makar Sankranti.
A former minister who belongs to Nonia caste, an OBC category, Chauhan, a party hopper, previously in the BSP had switched to the BJP ahead of the 2017 UP polls and was made a minister in the first Yogi government between 2017 to 2022.
However, towards the end of the Yogi government’s first term, Chauhan shifted loyalties again and joined the Samajwadi Party and won the Ghosi assembly seat as an SP candidate.
Subsequently following the SP’s loss in 2022 UP polls, Chauhan again joined the BJP after resigning his Ghosi seat. He contested the Ghosi seat in the by-poll as a BJP candidate this time but subsequently lost to the SP which was backed by almost all major opposition parties.
Chauhan is, however, set to win the MLC seat as the BJP has a brute majority in the UP assembly. Each MLC is elected for six years but since Chauhan has been named an MLC on the seat held by Dinesh Sharma, his tenure would be till January 30, 2027.
