Raghuraj Shakya files nomination as BJP candidate for Mainpuri bypoll

The two-term Lok Sabha member from adjoining Etawah is pitted against SP candidate Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh

The BJP nominee for the Mainpuri Lok Sabha by-election Raghuraj Singh Shakya filed his nomination papers on Wednesday at the office of District Magistrate, Mainpuri, accompanied by Uttar Pradesh BJP president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, Union Minister B.L. Verma and other senior leaders. The two-term Lok Sabha member from adjoining Etawah is pitted against Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Dimple Yadav in the by-election necessitated due to the demise of SP founder and three-time Chief Minister Mulayam Singh, who represented the constituency five times in the Lok Sabha.

Mr. Shakya’s candidature was announced by the saffron party on Tuesday after much deliberations as the seat is considered a SP stronghold. Mr. Chaudhary said the party was confident of winning the Mainpuri by-election with a huge margin as people were happy with the work done by the State and Central governments and during the campaign the party would highlight those works in every house of the constituency.

Mr. Shakya, who was once a close associate of Shivpal Singh Yadav, joined the BJP recently after being denied the Assembly ticket by the SP. The calculation behind Mr. Shakya’s candidature is his social affiliation, as the Shakya-OBC community constitutes the second largest electorate after the Yadavs in the parliamentary segment with roughly three lakh votes. The BJP has never won this stronghold of the SP. Since 1996, the SP has emerged victorious in every Lok Sabha election in Mainpuri. Despite an adverse electoral history against the BJP, it is still hopeful of breaching the citadel of the SP due to the relatively closer result of the 2019 polls and recent successes in Azamgarh and Rampur parliamentary by-elections.

In a related development, Ms. Dimple Yadav on Wednesday met Jaswantnagar MLA Mr. Shivpal Singh Yadav, who shares estranged relationship with Ms. Yadav’s husband and party president Akhilesh Yadav. Ms. Yadav sought the blessings of Shivpal for the victory in the by-election. In the past two days, the SP made attempts to make peace with the Jaswantnagar MLA by including him in the star campaigner list for the December 5 polls. The Jaswantnagar Assembly constituency falls under the Mainpuri Lok Sabha segment.