Lucknow: Political parties in Uttar Pradesh are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that they emerge victorious in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary constituencies.
The ruling BJP, which had registered an overwhelming win in the 2017 UP Assembly polls bagging 325 out of 403 seats along with its allies, will be attempting to retain both the seats and register victory with a bigger margin, while the focus of the Opposition political parties will be to topple the saffron party's apple cart.
The bypolls were necessitated after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats respectively, following their election to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.
For the BJP, Gorakhpur is significant as it is the bastion of the CM, who has represented the seat in the Lok Sabha five times. Prior to Yogi , the seat was thrice represented in Parliament by his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath.
Following are some facts and figures related to Gorakhpur bypolls:
- As per an estimate, Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat has around 1,50,000 Muslim, 1,50,000 Brahmins, 1,30,000 Rajputs, 1,60,000 Yadavs and around one lakh Vaish and Bhumiyars.
- The BJP has fielded Upendra Shukla from Gorakhpur.
- Shukla is 56 years old. He belongs to Gorakhpur's Alahdadpur. In his nomination papers, he had said that he has assets worth Rs 1,78,422. Shukla had also said that he possesses Rs 50,000 in cash and Rs 68,442 in bank. Plus, Rs 60,000 worth jewellery.
- Moreover, Shukla had said that he has an ancestral house that is worth Rs 58,08,900 at market value. His share is half, worth Rs 27,27,927. 1.390 hectare worth agricultural land is also in his name. He has an income of Rs 3,35000 per year from it.
- There are three criminal cases pending against Shukla in court. All three are related to politics.
- Sureetha Kareem is the Congress candidate for the bypolls. She is 57 years old and is a doctor. Earlier in 2012, she had unsuccessfully contested for Mayorial elections. Kareem has no criminal cases against her. She has movable and unmovable assets worth Rs 91,44,976.
- The Samajwadi Party's candidate is Pravin Nishad. He has property worth Rs 1.5 lakh and has no criminal cases against him. Nishad is 29 years of age and has movable and unmovable assets worth Rs 1,23,074. He has Rs 45,000 in cash and Rs 51,701 in various banks.
- Till now, Gorakhpur has has 1951 MPs.
- Yogi won this seat in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
