Akhilesh red-faced as BJP wrests SP bastions Rampur, Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh bypolls

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said that the results were a seal of approval on his working and his government

Rampur and Azamgarh are the constituencies of SP's two tallest leaders -- Akhilesh Yadav and Mohd Azam Khan. Credit: PTI Photo

Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav suffered a serious jolt after his party was defeated in its traditional bastions of Azamgarh and Rampur in the Lok Sabha bypolls by the BJP.

BJP nominee and Bhojpuri film actor turned politician Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua defeated SP candidate and Akhilesh's cousin Dharmendra Yadav in a tight contest by over 11 thousand votes in the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency. BSP candidate Guddu Jamali finished third.

In Rampur, which was considered to be a bastion of firebrand SP leader Azam Khan, BJP candidate Ghanshyam Lodhi defeated the SP nominee Asim Raza by over 42 thousand votes in a dual contest.

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The Azamgarh seat was vacated by Akhilesh, who had won from there in the 2019 general elections. Akhilesh had then defeated Nirahua by over two lakh votes. The defeat came as a shock for the SP as in the recently held assembly polls also, the SP had swept Azamgarh district by winning all the ten assembly seats.

With these defeats, the SP's strength in the Lok Sabha has come down to three. In the 2019 LS polls, the SP, which had contested the elections in alliance with the BSP, had managed to win five seats.

Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath said that the victory of the saffron party indicated that the people had reposed faith in the politics of development and in the policies and vision of prime minister Narendra Modi. ''The people have rejected dynasty politics and voted for development...it is now clear that the casteist parties have no future,'' Adityanath said.

SP leaders, however, accused the BJP of 'misusing' the official machinery to achieve victory in the bypolls. ''At many places, Muslims were not allowed to cast their votes. Victory was snatched from us,'' SP candidate from Rampur Asim Raza alleged.

Dharmendra Yadav also had a heated exchange with the officials before the counting in Azamgarh after he alleged that he was not allowed to enter the counting centre. ''The officials tampered with the EVMs,'' he alleged.

SP leaders also said that BSP's Muslim candidate, who managed to bag over 1.5 lakh votes, ensured the victory of the BJP nominee by dividing the Muslim votes in Azamgarh, where Muslims and Yadavs together formed around 40 per cent of the electorate.

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