New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has set March 11 as the date of the bypolls to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, which fell vacant in September last year. The EC has also set March 11 as the date for the Lok Sabha bypoll in Bihar’s Araria constituency and assembly bypolls in Buhar’s Bhabua and Jehanabad.
While former Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath and former Phulpur MP Keshav Prasad Maurya were elected by BJP MLAs as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively in March, following the party’s landslide win the 2017 UP Assembly polls, the two continued to hold on to their Parliamentary seats for another six months.
Both Adityanath and Maurya chose the Legislative Council route and took oath as MLCs in September. For this, BJP MLCs were asked to vacate their seats to make way for
Adityanath, his two Deputy CMs, Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, and state cabinet minister Mohsin Raza.
The last date of filing nominations for the five bypolls is February 20, 2018 and the last date of withdrawal of candidature is February 23. The results will be declared three days after polling on March 14, 2018. The Election Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in the bye-elections in all polling stations.
The EC said that moral code of conduct will come into effect in the concerned districts with immediate effect. The moral code of conduct will also be applicable to the Union government for the concerned states.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha a total of five times, first becoming the Eastern UP constituency’s MP at the age of 26. He contested the election after his Guru Mahant Avaidyanath vacated the seat and retired from active politics. Maurya, on the other, became MP for the first time in 2014 and was among the 73 BJP MPs to go to Lok Sabha from UP. Maurya’s seat of Phulpur was once the constituency of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister.
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