The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has fielded Bhojpuri star Dinesh Lal Yadav, popularly known as ‘Nirahua’, for the Lok Sabha bypoll from the Azamgarh constituency in Uttar Pradesh. The seat fell vacant after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav resigned as a Lok Sabha member following his decision to retain the assembly seat he won in the recently-held elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Akhilesh Yadav defeated Union minister S P Singh Baghel to bag the Karhal assembly seat in the Mainpuri district. This was the first assembly election Akhilesh had contested. During his tenure as the UP chief minister from 2012 to 2017, Yadav was a member of the legislative council.
Nirahua, who joined the BJP in 2019, had contested from the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency in the last general elections but lost to Akhilesh Yadav by over 2.5 lakh votes. Speculations about him contesting again from Azamgarh intensified after his recent visit to the constituency where he targeted the SP chief for quitting the seat.For the vacant Rampur Lok Sabha seat, the BJP has announced Ghanshyam Lodhi’s name as party’s candidate for bypolls. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to give a walk over on the Rampur Lok Sabha seat vacated by Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan who has been elected to the legislative assembly.
