LUCKNOW: The ruling BJP stormed the Samajwadi Party bastions of Rampur and Azamgarh, wresting both the Lok Sabha seats in the bypoll, the result of which was declared on Sunday. The voting for the two seats was held on June 23.
In Rampur, considered the stronghold of SP leader Azam Khan, BJP’s Ghanshyam Lodhi won by over 42,000 votes. He defeated SP’s Asim Raja. In Azamgarh, deemed to be a fort of SP’s first family, BJP’s Dinesh Lala Yadav ‘Nirhaua’ sailed through, trouncing Dharmendra Yadav, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephew and former MP from Badaun. Nirahua, a popular Bhojpuri film star, won the seat by a slender margin of 8,679 votes.
While Raja was picked by Azam Khan, Yadav was chosen by Akhilesh at the last moment as he did not want the bastion to go outside the clan. After the announcement of results, questions are flying over the absence of Akhilesh from the poll arena. “The defeats are the reflection of the over-confident approach of Akhilesh whereas the BJP had pressed a galaxy of leaders, including CM Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CMs to campaign in both the constituencies,” said Prof AK Mishra of the political science department of Lucknow University.
Of the 9,09,407 votes polled in Azamgarh, Nirahua got 3,12,768 (34.39%) votes, while Dharmendra Yadav got 3,04,089 (33.44%). In Rampur, with the highest concentration of Muslim votes (over 50 per cent), SP leadership depended entirely on Azam Khan, who led the campaign on ground. He made emotional appeals to people to avenge his two years of incarceration and humiliation at the hands of BJP. However, BJP’s Lodhi prevailed, securing 3,67,397 votes against 3,25,205 won by Asim Raja.
Yogi chopper makes emergency landing
UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s helicopter made an emergency landing after a bird-hit immediately after the take-off in Varanasi on Sunday morning. Yogi then went to Lal Bahadur Shastri airport by road to take the special aircraft to Lucknow after a two-hour delay