File Picture Courtesy : Jagran
In a stunning Bypoll 2018 results from Uttar Pradesh, the unlikely alliance of Samajwadi party and Bahujan Samaj Party proved to be giant killer. It stunned the ruling BJP government of Yogi Adityanath by winning the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats.
These two seats were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. It was hence a prestige battle for the BJP. Adityanath has represented Gorakhpur in the Lok Sabha seat for five consecutive times.
The SP candidate in Gorakhpur, Pravin Nishad defeated his nearest rival Upendra Dutt Shukla (BJP). In Phulpur too, the SP candidate, Nagendra Singh Patel, defeated its nearest rival Kaushlendra Singh Patel of BJP.
In Bihar, the RJD won the Lok Sabha bypoll in Araria and the assembly by-election in Jehanabad, while the BJP won Bhabua. Sarfaraz Alam of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) won with a margin of over 63,000 votes in the Araria Lok Sabha seat as he beat Pradip Singh of BJP. RJD’s Kumar Krishna Mohan Alias Suday Yadav defeated Abhiram Sharma (JDU) by 35,036 votes in Jehanabad
BJP’s Rani Rinki Pandey won Bhabhua Assembly constituency defeating Congress’ candidate Shambhu Patel by 14,866 votes.
This was the first electoral battle in Bihar since Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who also heads the JD(U), walked out of the alliance with the RJD and the Congress and joined the BJP-led NDA in 2017.
As soon as the Uttar By poll results came through, Akhilesh Yadav, former UP CM, has hailed the party’s win in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha by elections as a victory of social justice, saying the verdict of the people shows that they are angry with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Akhilesh also did not forget to thank Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for its support in the bypolls, Yadav said, “Our Dalit brothers helped us secure a victory”.
Meanwhile , congratulating the winners of the Lok Sabha by-elections, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said it was clear that people were angry with the BJP and would vote for any non-BJP candidate with the potential to win. He also said the Congress was keen to rebuild the party in Uttar Pradesh but that would not happen overnight.
