In UP, mini version of assembly polls on Monday

Uttar Pradesh will on Monday see a mini version of assembly elections with bypolls in 11 constituencies, coming just months after the BJP swept the state in the Lok Sabha elections.

The UP bypolls for Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govindnagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) and Ghosi seats are being held along with the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.

It is a four-cornered contest with the BJP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress fielding candidates on all 11 assembly seats.

While the ruling BJP will try to build on its Lok Sabha success, the opposition parties hope the results will help them galvanise its cadres ahead of the 2022 elections for the 403-member Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

The Congress, in particular, hopes to show signs of revival in UP after its battering in the Lok Sabha polls in when it won just one seat, party chief Sonia Gandhi's Rae Bareli constituency.

In contrast, the BJP won 62 of the 80 parliamentary seats in the state and an ally bagged two more.

We have several challenges before us. But with the blessings of the seniors and the support of the youth, no one will be able to stop the party from coming to power in 2022," newly appointed Congress state president Ajay Kumar Lallu said recently.

Lallu said the Congress will become the voice of the deprived, farmers, youth and women in the state.

He exhorted workers to overcome all hurdles through determination and hard work, and function unitedly.

However, the ruling party's state unit chief Swatantradev Singh has claimed that the assembly bypolls will be a "one-sided contest in favour of the BJP."