UP bypoll: BJP vs SP in polling booths

Lucknow: The Gola Gokarannath by-election in Lakhimpur Kheri is set for November 3, and the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party are prepared for another showdown.

BJP MLA Arvind Giri passed away last month after a heart attack, leaving the Gola Gokarannath Assembly seat in Lakhimpur Kheri empty.

The BJP has fielded the deceased legislator's son Aman Giri while the Samajwadi Party has named its former MLA, Vinay Tiwari, as the party candidate for the Assembly bypoll.

It will be the first bypoll in Uttar Pradesh after the Samajwadi Party lost its citadels -- Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats -- to the BJP in June in parliamentary by-elections.

Tiwari won the Gola Gokarannath seat in 2012 but lost in 2017 and 2022 to BJP candidate Arvind Giri.

Arvind Giri was elected from the Hyderabad Assembly constituency (the constituency does not exist anymore) in the Lakhimpur Kheri district on the Samajwadi Party (SP) ticket in 1996, 2002 and 2007.

Then in 2017 and 2022, he was elected from the Gola Gokarannath constituency on the BJP ticket.

The Congress, according to sources, is unlikely to field a candidate in the by-elections.

"The party high command has not conveyed its decision on the by-elections and the party may not field a candidate this time," said a source.

The BSP is also expected to remain away from the by-election, which will narrow the fight between the BJP and SP.

Gola Gokarannath is one of the eight Assembly constituencies in the Lakhimpur Kheri district.

According to the Election Commission, the notification for the by-election was issued on October 7. The last date for filing nominations is October 14. Scrutiny of nominations will be held on October 15 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is October 17.

Polling will be held on November 3, while counting of votes will take place on 6.

With inputs from IANS