Lucknow: The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced its candidates for the Phulpur and Gorakhpur by-elections slated for March 11.
Phulpur, vacated by deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, will see Kaushlendra Singh Patel contesting for the BJP. Patel has been selected keeping in mind the OBC voters in the constituency.
For Gorakhpur, vacated by CM Yogi Adityanath, the BJP has fielded Upendra Shukla in an attempt to woo Brahmin voters.
Shukla is a well-known face among Brahmin voters and is the party’s regional president. Shukla has been associated with the BJP for quite some time and even tried to contest the assembly elections but could not get a ticket then.
The Gorakhpur Parliamentary seat is considered to be a stronghold of Gorakhspeeth as late Mahant Awaidyanath was the district’s MP from 1989 to 1998. After him, Yogi Adityanath won the seat for five consecutive terms.
The contest for Phulpur is set to see a hot battle, as Kaushlendra Singh Patel will be going up against the Samajwadi Party’s Nagendra Singh Patel. The Patel vs Patel contest’s winner will be decided based on who has been closer to the community.
A businessman by profession, Upendra Singh Patel was the mayor of Varanasi from 2006 to 2012 and holds a Master’s Degree in Commerce from Banaras Hindu University.
The Congress had announced its candidates on February 16. State party chief Raj Babbar tweeted that general secretary of state Congress, Manish Mishra will be the candidate from Phulpur, while Surhita Chatterjee Karim will contest from Gorakhpur.
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