<p>The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh today retained the Handia assembly seat by defeating its BSP rival by a comprehensive margin of more than 26,000 votes.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Voting was held on June two for the by-election in which Prashant Kumar Singh of SP secured 81,655 votes while Pankaj Tripathi of BSP got 54,838 to finish a distant second.<br /><br />Significantly, 26-year-old Singh is the son of Mahesh Narayan Singh whose death in February this year had necessitated the by-election.<br /><br />On the other hand, Tripathi is the nephew of Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, a cabinet minister in the previous Mayawati government in the state, who has represented Handia a number of times and on tickets of various parties.<br /><br />In the last assembly elections, the BSP stood third, while Tripathi, who had at that time parted ways with the party and fought as a candidate of Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party, a lesser known outfit, lost to Mahesh Narayan Singh by a humiliating margin of 45,000 votes.<br /><br />He has, however, mended ways with Mayawati, who promised him a Lok Sabha ticket.<br /><br />Meanwhile, both Congress and BJP continued with their dismal show in the assembly constituency where they secured 3,809 and 2,550 votes respectively and ended up losing deposits.<br /><br />The two national parties' combined vote share in Handia in last year's assembly polls was less than five per cent.</p>
<p>The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh today retained the Handia assembly seat by defeating its BSP rival by a comprehensive margin of more than 26,000 votes.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Voting was held on June two for the by-election in which Prashant Kumar Singh of SP secured 81,655 votes while Pankaj Tripathi of BSP got 54,838 to finish a distant second.<br /><br />Significantly, 26-year-old Singh is the son of Mahesh Narayan Singh whose death in February this year had necessitated the by-election.<br /><br />On the other hand, Tripathi is the nephew of Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, a cabinet minister in the previous Mayawati government in the state, who has represented Handia a number of times and on tickets of various parties.<br /><br />In the last assembly elections, the BSP stood third, while Tripathi, who had at that time parted ways with the party and fought as a candidate of Pragatisheel Manav Samaj Party, a lesser known outfit, lost to Mahesh Narayan Singh by a humiliating margin of 45,000 votes.<br /><br />He has, however, mended ways with Mayawati, who promised him a Lok Sabha ticket.<br /><br />Meanwhile, both Congress and BJP continued with their dismal show in the assembly constituency where they secured 3,809 and 2,550 votes respectively and ended up losing deposits.<br /><br />The two national parties' combined vote share in Handia in last year's assembly polls was less than five per cent.</p>