LUCKNOW: Serving a second a big blow to the ruling BJP in Western UP after Gorakhpur and Phulpur defeat, Samajwadi Party candidate Naeemul Hasan has won Noorpur Assembly bypoll trouncing his nearest rival Avni Singh of BJP with a margin of over 5678 votes after the completion of counting here on Thursday.
Meanwhile, in Kairana Parliamentary constituency, opposition joint candidate Tabassum Hassan who had the contest on RLD symbol has been ahead of her nearest rival Mriganka Singh with a lead of over 45,000
votes after 19 rounds of counting.
Notably, the voting for both the constituencies had taken place on May 28 amidst EVM anomalies on a large scale. Consequently, Election Commission of India had ordered repoll on 73 booths of Kairana where voting was held on Wednesday.
However, the Thursday result has once again established that the debilitating effect of opposition unity, which was cobbled up during Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha byelections in UP, has continued in
Kairana and Noorpur for the BJP putting a spanner in the saffron juggernaut.
The repoll to both Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly constituencies were necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP lawmakers --- Humkum Singh in Kairana and Lokendra Singh, the Noorpur MLA.
Interestingly, in 2017 Assembly elections, BJP’s Lokendra Singh had won from Noorpur seat in Bijnore district by defeating Naeemul Hasan of SP with a margin of over 12,000 votes. Lokendra, who died in a road accident on Lucknow-Agra Expressway in Febraury this year, has secured around 79,172 votes in 2017 against Naeemul Hasan who had got 66, 436 votes then.
BSP candidate Gohar Iqbal had remained on the third position by bagging 45,902 votes. In this bypoll, Sp had fielded Naeemul Hasan as a joint opposition candidate who was supported by BSo, Congress, RLD and AAP.
The saffron party has been trailing since early leads in both Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly seats. BJP had fielded Avani Singh, Lokendra’s widow, in anticipation of sympathy votes and had put up a robust campaign as well in her support, but apparently, sympathy factor didn’t work for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. In Kairana, BJP candidate Mriganka Singh is the daughter of the deceased BJP MP Hukum Singh who is lagging with a considerable margin with Tabassum Hassan going stronger after each round of counting.