MAINPURI: BJP candidate Raghuraj Singh Shakya on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for the December 5 bypoll to the Mainpuri parliamentary seat in Uttar Pradesh.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had on Tuesday named Shakya, a former member of parliament (MP), as its candidate to take on Samajwadi Party’s (SP) Dimple Yadav on the seat considered as the stronghold of the SP.
Live! https://t.co/dVu1vikZ9A
— Keshav Prasad Maurya (@kpmaurya1) November 16, 2022
The by-election has been necessitated due to the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, state BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary, Union minister B L Verma, state general secretary Ashwani Tyagi, among others were present during the filing of nomination of Shakya.
Shakya was once a close associate of Shivpal Yadav, but quit his Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party to join the BJP earlier this year. He was earlier in the Samajwadi Party and sided with Shivpal Yadav after the latter formed his party.
एस0 एम0 ग्राउंड पैलेस में मा0 प्रदेश अध्यक्ष श्री @Bhupendraupbjp जी के साथ मैनपुरी लोकसभा से भाजपा प्रत्याशी श्री रघुराज सिंह शाक्य जी के नामांकन व कार्यकर्ता सम्मेलन में प्रतिभाग कर संबोधित किया और कार्यकर्ताओं से मैनपुरी में प्रचंड बहुमत से कमल खिलाने का अनुरोध किया। pic.twitter.com/IOp6GUOLYS
— Keshav Prasad Maurya (@kpmaurya1) November 16, 2022
Addressing a large gathering after the filing of nomination, Maurya claimed that people will vote for the saffron party in huge numbers and the party will snatch the seat from the SP. He said central leaders, after a long deliberation, have fielded Shakya. He also assured that all illegal encroachments will be removed and ‘goondagiri’ (hooliganism) will have no place in Mainpuri once the BJP candidate is elected from the seat.
On the SP naming Shivpal Singh Yadav as its star campaigner on the seat, Maurya exuded confidence that the BJP will register a thumping victory. Stressing that Mainpuri seat is important for the BJP, the minister said the party will create a record by winning the seat with the help of the sustained efforts of the party workers. “’Kamal (BJP’s party symbol–lotus) khilega’ and the BJP will win with record votes,” he said, adding that Akhilesh Yadav cannot be Mulayam Singh Yadav as he only wants to take the benefit of his father’s name, ”but people know him well and all his efforts will go in vain”. The BJP had successfully breached the SP’s citadels of Azamgarh and Rampur Lok Sabha seats recently, and is hoping to do the same in Mainpuri.
