The counting of votes for the bypolls to nine Assembly segments in Uttar Pradesh will be taken up at 8 am on Saturday amid tight security arrangements, officials said.

While the results of the bypolls will not directly impact the composition of the 403-member state Assembly, the contest is being seen as the first major face-off between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its political rivals since the Lok Sabha election held earlier in April-May.

The nine constituencies -- Meerapur, Kundarki, Sisamau, Katehari, Phulpur, Majhawan, Ghaziabad, Karhal and Khair -- saw intense campaigning by the BJP, Samajwadi Party (SP) and other regional parties. Political tension has been running high in the run-up to the counting, with both the BJP and the opposition parties accusing each other of election malpractices.

On the eve of the vote counting, SP president Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of manipulating the election process and claimed that the tactics of the saffron party are increasingly being exposed.

In a press statement, Yadav asserted that the vigilance of the INDIA opposition bloc supporters has uncovered the "BJP's efforts to manipulate the electoral process, leading to a decline in the party's support base".

"The way our voters, workers, office-bearers and the media have responded to the BJP's election fraud is being appreciated everywhere," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, adding that the BJP's reliance on corruption, propaganda and manipulation is the reason why its support base is shrinking.

Yadav alleged that the BJP lures officials and leaders to indulge in corrupt practices, only to abandon them when things go wrong.

"The BJP is not a party that protects people, it traps them," he claimed, urging SP supporters to remain vigilant during the vote-counting process. "We have won morally. Only the official certificate is pending," Yadav added.

Other senior SP leaders also asserted that the bypoll results will be favourable for the party. Shivpal Singh Yadav claimed on Thursday that the SP would win five to six seats, despite what he described as the BJP's "dishonest efforts" and use of administrative power to influence the polling. SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav accused the saffron party of using district officials and police to manipulate the bypoll results. He demanded re-polling under the supervision of paramilitary forces.

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya dismissed the SP leaders' accusations as baseless. Taking to social media on Thursday, Maurya criticised Akhilesh Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for promoting what he called the politics of negativity.

"The public will reject their baseless allegations. The country needs development, not constant allegations," he wrote on social media, asserting that the BJP would emerge a clear winner in the bypolls.

The bypolls were held on November 20 amid allegations from the SP that the local police prevented voters from reaching polling booths.

Acting on a complaint from the SP, the Election Commission took action against five police men.

The results will determine the fate of the 90 candidates, including the highest number of 14 nominees from Ghaziabad and the lowest number of five candidates from Khair and Sisamau each.

In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BJP won the Phulpur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan and Khair seats, while the SP secured victories in Sisamau, Katehari, Karhal and Kundarki. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which was an SP ally then, won the Meerapur seat. The party has since switched sides and is now a part of the BJP-led NDA.

While the Congress did not contest the bypolls, it extended support to the SP, its INDIA bloc ally. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) contested all nine seats independently, while Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) fielded candidates in Ghaziabad, Kundarki and Meerapur. The Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), led by Chandrashekhar Azad, also contested all seats except Sisamau.

In the current Assembly, the BJP has 251 MLAs, followed by the SP (105). BJP allies, such as Apna Dal (Sonelal), RLD, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and NISHAD Party, hold additional seats, while the Congress and the Jansatta Dal Loktantrik have two seats each and the BSP has one.

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