In a surprise move, the Samajwadi Party has announced Tanzeen Fatima, wife of Azam Khan, as its candidate for Rampur Assembly bypoll. Fatima is presently a Rajya Sabha MP of the party. The Rampur Assembly seat had fallen vacant after Khan was elected to the Lower House in May this year.
The decision to field Tanzeen Fatima has been taken to cash in on the sympathy factor as her husband and other family members have been booked in 84 cases of forgery, land grabbing, encroachment, etc in the past three months.
Earlier, the Samajwadi Party (SP) declared candidates for five assembly seats going to bypolls, voting for which will be held on October 21.
In a tweet, the Samajwadi Party said, “Sudhakar Singh will be party’s candidate from Ghosi, while Nirbhay Singh Patel will be SP candidate from Manikpur. The party has given ticket to Gaurav Kumar Rawat from Zaidpur. Subhash Rai will be SP candidate from Jalalpur, while Brijesh Verma Patel will be party candidate from Pratapgarh.”
Last week, the Election Commission had announced that polling for 11 Assembly seats in UP mostly belonging to MLAs who had won the Lok Sabha polls and resigned as members of state assembly will be held on October 21.
Assembly constituencies going to bypolls are Gangoh, Rampur, Iglas (SC), Lucknow Cantonment, Govindnagar, Manikpur, Pratapgarh, Zaidpur (SC), Jalalpur, Balha (SC) and Ghosi.
The Ghosi seat became vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar.