Around 40 in fray for Gorakhpur, Phulpur bypolls

Around 40 candidates have filed their nomination papers for the bypolls to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, officials said today.
BJP candidate from Gorakhpur, Upendra Shukla, and Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur Lok Sabha seats were among those who filed nomination papers today.
Congress candidates from Gorakhpur and Phulpur Sureetha Kareem and Manish Mishra also filed their nominations.
SP candidates Praveen Nishad (from Gorakhpur) and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel (Phulpur) had filed their nomination yesterday.
Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively, after they became members of the UP Legislative Council.

For the BJP, Gorakhpur assumes significance as it is the bastion of Adityanath, who has represented it in Lok Sabha five times. Prior to Adityanath, Gorakhpur was thrice represented in the Parliament by his mentor Avaidyanath.

Phulpur, on the other hand, was once represented by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. It had for the first time witnessed a saffron surge in 2014 Lok Sabha elections, when Maurya emerged victorious.
Voting for the Lok Sabha bye-elections will be held on March 11, while counting of votes will be held on March 14.
According to reports from Gorakhpur, two more members of SP candidate Praveen Nishad's family, his mother Malti Devi and younger brother Shrawan Nishad have also filed nomination papers for the bye-polls.

Ram Nagina Sahni, former Samajwadi Zila Panchayat member has also filed his nomination papers.
"Contesting election is my right and father-son, mother-son and mother-daughter anyone could fight in the election. There is no restriction of relations as per law. I am contesting to defeat Yogi's candidate as the CM has not fulfilled promises made to our fisherman community." Malti Devi said.
BJP candidate Upendra Shukla went to the Gorakhnath temple and took the blessings of Baba Gorakhnath before filing his nomination papers. Shukla said he would carry forward the development work done by Yogi Adityanath.
Congress candidate Sureetha Kareem garlanded Mahatma Gandhi's statue and said that she would ensure women empowerment and work for eradication of encephalitis.

Among 2124 booths the administration has identified 90 as most sensitive booths. However, the number of sensitive booth could be increased, DM Gorakhpur Rajiv Routela said.