UP by-polls: Amit Shah touches ground zero

Begins two-day visit to Lucknow and Varanasi in the run up to bypolls slated for Sept 13

The newly elected Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Tuesday kicked off his two-day visit to Uttar Pradesh, where by-polls for one parliamentary and 11 Assembly seats are scheduled to be held on September 13.

This is Shah’s first visit to UP after his elevation as the BJP president. He would take stock of poll preparedness during his stay in Lucknow and Varanasi.

In Varanasi, Shah would inaugurate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s public relations office on Wednesday.

Shah was BJP’s UP in-charge during the recent Lok Sabha (LS) polls and has been credited with leading the party to victory. Success in the by-polls would put a stamp on his organisational skills.

The by-polls assume significance in the backdrop of poll reverses faced by the BJP in the recent Uttarakhand by-polls, where Congress performed well under Harish Rawat, the chief minister. The by-polls’ schedule was announced on Saturday, when Shah also announced his new team of office-bearers ahead of the Assembly elections in Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Jammu & Kashmir.

Shah’s new team has 10 members from UP, which gave Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh Lok Sabha  seats, from Varanasi and Lucknow, respectively. Uttar Pradesh by-polls would fill seats that were vacated when sitting legislators had contested the Lok Sabha polls and were elected to Parliament. These include Saharanpur City, Bijnor, Thakurdwara (Moradabad), Noida, Nighasan (Lakhimpur Kheri), Lucknow East, Hamirpur, Charkhari (Mahoba), Sirathu (Kaushambi), Balha (Bahraich) and Rohania (Varanasi).

The Election Commission has not announced the date in Kairana (Shamli) as a case is pending after the 2012 Assembly poll result.
TESTING THE WATERS

• Amit Shah kicks off two-day visit in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh
• By-polls in one parliamentary and 11 Assembly constituencies scheduled on September 13
• This is Shah’s first visit to UP after being made the BJP president
• Shah to inaugurate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s  public relations office in Varanasi on Wednesday
• The by-polls assume significance in the backdrop of poll reverses faced by the BJP in Uttarakhand