BJP wins UP assembly bypoll

Taking advantage of a fragmented opposition, BJP registered a victory in the by-poll at Hamirpur assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh, thereby retaining the seat.

According to the official sources here, BJP nominee Yuvraj Singh defeated his nearest Samajwadi Party (SP) rival Manoj Prajapati by over 17500 votes.

BSP candidate Naushad Ali secured 28700 votes while the Congress nominee Hardeepak Nishad got a little over 18 thousand votes.

The by-poll to the seat was necessitated after BJP legislator from Hamirpur Ashok Vhandel was sentenced to life imprisonment in a case of murder by the Allahabad high court a few months back.

The SP and BSP, which had contested the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls in alliance in UP, parted ways after their dismal performance and chose to go to the by-poll on their own.

UP would be witnessing by-polls on 11 assembly seats next month. The saffron party eyes a clean sweep in the polls. A divided opposition could make things easier for the BJP. The SP-BSP alliance has already broken and Congress continues to be in disarray.

Of the 11 seats going to the by-polls, BJP had won ten seats while the Samajwadi Party (SP) and BSP had won one seat each. BJP was eyeing the Rampur seat of firebrand SP leader and now LS member Azam Khan.

Rampur has been the fiefdom of Azam Khan, who had won it nine times. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded general elections from Rampur defeating BJP nominee Jaya Prada.