Lucknow: The Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress on Saturday skipped the all-party meeting called by Samajwadi Party here to plan for a strategy push for the use ballot papers in the upcoming by elections on Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats.
An invitation in this regard was sent from SP state president Naresh Uttam Patel to Congress, BSP, RLD, CPI (M), CPI, Peace Party and many others.
SP national president Akhilesh Yadav was present in the meeting. Political analysts believe that this meeting was also important for any kind of collaboration between all the opposition parties as a part of the strategy for defeating BJP in the by-elections.
There were unconfirmed reports of the opposition uniting in these two constituencies to defeat BJP and give a message ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
Earlier speaking to News18, SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “We will discuss the issue of EVMs with other parties and will decide on how to get future elections conducted through ballot papers. This is an attempt by the party to maintain the sanctity of the election process and revive the confidence of people in our democratic system.”
Both the seats are significant as Gorakhpur has been a traditional stronghold of the BJP since 1991 while the saffron party won Phulpur for the first time in 2014 and will not like it to slip out of their grip. In Phulpur, Keshav Prasad Maurya had defeated his nearest SP rival by 3, 08,308 votes, while in Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath had defeated his SP rival by 3, 12,783 votes.
The Lok Sabha seats of Phulpur and Gorakhpur were vacant after Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Maurya and CM Adityanath resigned from their posts and became MLCs. The by-elections on both the seats have to be held before 22 March 2018, however it is expected that these elections could be held along with state assembly elections of four other states, which is due in the month of February 2018.
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