The Lok Sabha seats vacated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya, Gorakhpur and Phulpur respectively, will go to the polls on March 11. Bihar’s Araira constituency, which is unrepresented after the death of sitting MP and RJD leader Mohammad Taslimuddin, will also have elections on the same date. The votes will be counted on March 14.

Simultaneously, the Bhabua and Jehanabad Assembly constituencies in Bihar will also go to polls.

Adityanath, a five-time MP from Gorakhpur, took over as UP Chief Minister in March last year. He is now a member of the State Legislative Council. Maurya, who is also an MLC, was elected the Phulpur MP in 2014.

The elections come close on the heels of Congress victories in one Assembly and two Lok Sabha seats in poll-bound Rajasthan, and the Trinamool Congress’ win in the Uluberia Lok Sabha seat in Bengal.

Both Lok Sabha seats in Rajasthan were earlier held by the BJP.

The March 11 by-polls are being held even as President Ram Nath Kovind has pitched for simultaneous elections to Parliament and State Assemblies on the grounds that frequent elections posed a “huge burden” on resources and impeded the development process. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has been making a strong pitch for holding simultaneous polls.

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