Polling for Azamgarh, Rampur Lok Sabha seats Today

Lucknow: Polling in the by-polls for the two Lok Sabha seats of Rampur and Azamgarh, will be held today, officials informed on Wednesday.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer’s office polling will start at 7 am and will continue till 6 pm.
As per the data of the CEO office more than 18.38 lakh eligible voters will decide the electoral fate of 13 candidates, including a woman candidate, in Azamgarh, whereas more than 17.06 lakh voters, eligible to vote will decide the electoral fate of 6 candidates in Rampur.
As per the information received from the Election Commission, polling will be held at 4,234 polling booths and 2,272 polling centers in both places. To keep an eye on polling two general observers and two expenditure observers have been deployed.
In addition to these 291 sector magistrates, 40 zonal magistrates, 10 static magistrates and 433 micro-observers have been deployed on poll duty. To ensure free and fair polling central forces have been deployed along with the local police.
The by-poll has become an issue of prestige for the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) and the main opposition party Samajwadi Party (SP). In the 2019 general elections both the seats were won by SP.
While SP chief Akhilesh won from Azamgarh, senior party leader Mohammad Azam Khan was elected from Rampur. Akhilesh and Azam vacated these seats after getting elected to Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Karhal in Mainpuri and Rampur Sadar seats respectively.
BJP has repeated its candidate for the Azamgarh seat, Bhojpuri movie actor Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua. In 2019 he was defeated by Akhilesh. On the other hand, SP has fielded Akhilesh’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav, who will be contesting from this seat for the first time.
The entry of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali has made it a triangular contest.
In Rampur there is a straight contest between BJP and SP. Here BJP nominee Ghanshyam Lodhi is challenging Aseem Raza of the SP. This contest is a matter of prestige for Azam Khan of the SP as Aseem is considered to be his close lieutenant.(UNI)