IN THE bypoll for the Phulpur Assembly seat, one of the nine constituencies in Uttar Pradesh which will vote on November 20, BJP candidate Deepak Patel has got an unexpected boost. For the past few days, among those campaigning for him is Samajwadi Party MLA Pooja Pal.

Pal, the SP MLA from Chail in Kaushambi, which is around 60 km from Phulpur, told The Indian Express that her reason was personal, as it is the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in UP that had ensured “justice” in her husband Raju Pal’s killing.

Then a BSP MLA, Raju Pal’s killing was orchestrated in January 2005 by mafia don-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf. The two were shot down on camera last year, while leaving a hospital in police custody. Apart from the two who were prime accused, there were six others charged in the Raju Pal killing and they were sentenced to life imprisonment in March this year.

“It is my decision to campaign for the BJP candidate because under Chief Minister Adityanath, my community and I have received justice,” Pooja Pal says, adding that her fight lasted over two decades. “I am simply informing the people that I have now received justice.”

The SP has had its reasons to keep an eye on Pal, whose name did the rounds after the party lost a seat due to cross-voting for the Rajya Sabha elections in February. But almost a week after she began canvassing for the BJP’s Deepak Patel, SP media in-charge for Prayagraj Dan Bahadur Madhur claims he is unaware of the matter.

Expressing confidence that SP Phulpur candidate Mujtaba Siddiqui, a former three-time BSP MLA (from Soraon, Pratappur), will win, Madhur told The Indian Express: “People from all walks of life are supporting us. We are confident of winning.”

However, the BJP has been gaining ground in Phulpur. The bypoll itself was necessitated because its MLA from here for the past two times, Praveen Singh Patel, won this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

BJP’s Gangapar (Prayagraj) Prabhari Uttar Maurya said Pooja Pal’s campaigning for the BJP candidate. Meanwhile, BJP’s Gangapar (Prayagraj) President Kavita Patel did not give a direct answer, stating that she would need to speak to Pooja Pal regarding the matter.

A total of 19 candidates are in the fray for the Phulpur bypoll, including the BSP’s Jitendra Singh, a businessman and first-timer.

The seat, which has around 4.16 lakh voters, has predominantly Dalits, followed by Yadavs, Muslims and Brahmins (approximately 90,000; 70,000; 55,000; and 40,000, respectively). On paper, the SP candidate has an advantage, with Yadavs and Muslims a vote bank of the party, and Dalits potential supporters.

However, if the BSP entry has queered the pitch, so has a Congress rebel. Following the Congress leadership’s decision to not contest the bypolls, after the SP offered it only a couple of seats as part of their coalition, Congress leader Suresh Chandra Yadav filed his nomination from Phulpur as an Independent.

BJP candidate Deepak Patel also has a link to Phulpur. Patel’s mother Kesari Devi won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Phulpur. Deepak is a former MLA of the BSP from the Karachhana seat, who shifted to the BJP in 2018.

Pooja Pal does have an expectation as she lends her backing openly to the BJP. She says she recently learnt that the accused in Raju Pal’s murder case have been transferred to Prayagraj Jail from Lucknow Jail due to pending cases in Prayagraj against them.

“If they remain in Prayagraj, it would pose a continuous threat to my life, as I was the complainant in the murder case. In a gangster case pending against them, I am a witness. I have decided to meet the CM to seek protection,” she says.