A keenly fought political battle is unfolding in the Handia Assembly constituency in Allahabad where byelections are scheduled to be held on June 2.
The byelections are crucial for both the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.
The Samajwadi Party is keen to retain this seat that fell vacant following the death of its MLA Mahesh Narain Singh and prove to its opponents that it continues to enjoy the confidence of the people who had voted it to power last year.
The Samajwadi candidate is Prashant Singh, son of the deceased MLA and the party is riding high on the sympathy factor. Earlier in February, the Samajwadi Party had won the Bhatpar Rani bypoll on a similar factor when it fielded Ashutosh Upadhyay, son of SP minister Kameshwar Upadhyay, who died after a prolonged illness.
The BSP, on the other hand, is determined to highlight the anti-incumbency factor against the government and is basing its campaign on the failures of the Akhilesh Yadav government. The BSP is using the on-going power and water crisis in the state to its advantage and the deteriorating law and order situation forms the basis of its campaign.
The BSP candidate is Pankaj Tripathi, nephew of former BSP minister Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, who ranked second in 2012 Assembly elections.
While the main contest in Handia is between SP and BSP, BJP and the Congress are playing almost peripheral roles in the byelection.
The BJP has fielded Vidyakant Tiwari a.k.a Sanware, who had contested the same seat in the 2012 assembly elections and could reach the sixth position.
The Congress candidate is Amrit Lal Bind, a former BSP leader who recently joined the party. Bind is confident of getting OBC votes and is contesting elections for the first time.