The re-shuffle of certain BJP candidates might give the party challenges to retain power in the Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh.
Before the election, the Bhartiya Janta party shifted Anand Swaroop Shukla, the sitting MLA from Ballia Sardar, to the Bairia assembly seat. In the Ballia Sardar assembly seat, State-Vice president Dayasankar Singh has been fielded.
Shukla got the Bairia seat candidate after the controversial MLA Surendra Singh was denied a ticket by the BJP. Singh later joined Vikhassheel Insaan Party, and contesting for the same seat against Shukla made turf harder for him.
Singh accused BJP MP Virendra Singh Mast for the denial of his ticket. He said that this repercussion came after he foiled Mast’s bid to grab land in which every year animal fair is organized.
Replying to the accusation made by the MLA, Virendra Singh said that tickets are finalized by the parliamentary board and not by an individual. He further said that for sabotaging one’s ticket, one has to get the ticket first. The party decided not to field him.
According to some party insiders, Surendra had created discomfort for the party in Bairia.
The assembly seats in Ballia district are divided into seven seats in Rasra, Belthara road, Sikandarpur, Bairia, Sardar, Bansdih and Phephana.
The Samajwadi Party has fielded Narad Rai from the Ballia Sardar seat against BJP’s Dayasankar Pandey, which prepared the ground for tough competition. Rai, after losing in the 2017 election, has been working hard by staying on the constituency.
At Phephana, BJP’s Upendra Tiwari is in the fray with SP’s Sangram Yadav.
With new rebellions emerging, BJP is finding some relief at Bansdih seat where Ketaki Singh, who had contested as rebel candidate in 2017 and lost to SP’s stalwart Ram Govind Choudhary by a margin of 1,687 votes, is contesting for the saffron party.
Ballia, which is in the sixth phase of the UP election, will go to the polls on the 3rd of march. Along with Ballia, Ambedkar Nagar, Balrampur, Siddharthnagar, Basti, Sant Kabir Nagar, Maharajganj, Gorakhpur, Kushinagar, Deoria will also go on polls.
The sixth phase consists of 57 assembly seats in 10 districts. Votes to be counted on the 10th of march.
Published by- Aashay Bhujbal
Edited by- Kritika Kashyap
