LUCKNOW: Canvassing for the bypolls to seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh ended on Sunday where 88 candidates are in the fray for the November 3 contest, with the opposition taking on the state government over law and order and the BJP raising the "love jihad" issue.
Of the seven seats going to the polls on Tuesday, six were held by the BJP and one by the Samajwadi Party.
The state government is facing criticism over the law and order situation, particularly after the Hathras and Balrampur rape and murder cases.
In the run up to the bypolls, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said his government will bring a law to deal with ''love jihad''.
The seven assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh where the bypolls will be held include Naugaon Sadat, which fell vacant after the death of state minister Chetan Chauhan.
The bypolls were necessitated in Ghatampur (Kanpur) as sitting MLA and minister Kamal Rani Varun died from coronavirus while in Tundla (Firozabad), sitting MLA S P Singh Baghel was elected to the Lok Sabha.
The Bangarmau (Unnao) seat fell vacant following the conviction of Kuldeep Singh Sengar in a rape case.
The seats of Bulandshahr, Deoria and Malhani will got to bypolls due to the demise of sitting MLAs Virendra Singh Sirohi, Janmejay Singh and Parasnath Yadav (SP).
The counting of votes will be held on November 10.
The maximum 18 candidates are in the fray from Bulandshahr. Six candidates are locked in a contest in Ghatampur, lowest number among the constituencies.
There are 16 candidates in the fray from Malhani (Jaunpur); 14 each from Naugawan Sadat (Amroha) and Deoria; 10 each from from Bangarmau (Unnao) and Tundla (Firozabad).
In Naugawan-Sadat, Sangeeta Chauhan, wife of Chetan Chauhan, has been fielded by the BJP. The Congress has fielded Kamlesh Singh. The SP has fielded Javed Abbas and the BSP has made Furkan as its candidate. Hashmat Ali is the candidate for the NCP.
On the Ghatampur seat, which fell vacant following the death of UP Cabinet minister Kamal Rani Varun, the BJP has fielded Upendra Nath Paswan.
Other prominent candidates in the fray are Indrajeet Kori (SP), Kuldeep Shankhwar (BSP) and Kripa Shankar (Congress).
Shrikant Katiyar is the BJP candidate from Bangarmau while Aarti Bajpai of the Congress, Mahesh Parasad from the BSP and Suresh Kumar Pal from the SP are also in the contest.
In Bulandshahr, Usha Sirohi has been given the ticket by the BJP. Mohammad Yunus is the BSP candidate while Sushil Chaudhary has been fielded by the Congress. AIMIM has given the ticket to Dilshad Ahmad while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) has fielded Praveen Kumar Singh. The SP has extended its support to the RLD.
From Deoria, the BJP has fielded Satyaprakash Mani Tripathi while Brahma Shankar Tripathi is the SP candidate. Abhay Nath Tripathi is the BSP candidate and Mukund Bhaskar has been fielded by the Congress. Ajay Pratap Singh, son of Janmejay Singh, who was a BJP legislator, is contesting as an Independent.
In Malhani (Jaunpur), the SP has fielded Lucky Yadav while Manoj Kumar Singh has been fielded by the BJP. The BSP has made Jaiprakash Dubey as its candidate and the Congress gave the ticket to Rakesh Mishra. Former MP Dhananjay Singh is contesting as an independent.
In Tundla, the BJP has fielded Prem Pal Singh Dhangar. Other candidates in the fray are Maharaj Singh Dhangar (SP), Sanjeev Chak (SP). Nomination papers of the Congress nominee were rejected earlier.
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his deputies Keshav Prasad Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, state BJP president Swatantra Dev Singh and other party leaders have been holding election meetings in the run-up to the bypolls.
Swatantra Dev Singh claimed that the BJP will register win on all seats.
Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary on Sunday said, "As the assembly bypolls are approaching, the BJP while apprehending its defeat, is indulging in tactics to instil fear among voters and misusing the government machinery.” He said the SP will win six seats while the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) one.
Meanwhile, UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu said that the BJP government has failed on all fronts and asserted that the public has decided to teach the ruling party a lesson.
"This will be visible in the bypolls. These bypolls will mark the commencement of the decline of the BJP and the Congress will emerge victorious," Lallu said, who slammed the government over the law and order situation.
On Saturday, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had said his government will come out with a law to deal with ''love jihad'' and used the Hindu funeral chant ''Ram Naam Satya Hai'' to threaten those who don''t respect their daughters and sisters.
Welcoming the Allahabad High Court ruling declaring that conversion for the sole purpose of marriage is not valid, the chief minister said posters will be put up of those involved in ''love jihad'', a derogatory coinage referring to the alleged campaign of Muslims forcing Hindu girls to convert in the guise of love.
"We will bring an effective law. It is my warning to those who play with the honour and dignity of sisters and daughters by hiding their real names and identities. If they do not mend their ways, their ''Ram Naam Satya'' journey will start," Adityanath had said while addressing election rallies in Jaunpur and Deoria .
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati too on Sunday appealed to voters to vote for her party candidates and send a political message to rivals.