UP Bypolls: BJP Wrests SP Bastions Of Rampur And Azamgarh In Bypolls

In a major setback to the main opposition Samajwadi Party, the BJP on Sunday wrested both Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP's Ghanshyam Lodhi defeated Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Mohd Asim Raja by a comfortable margin of 42,192 votes in the direct contest in Rampur. While Lodhi secured 3,67,397 votes (51.96 per cent), SP's Raja got 3,25,205 votes (46 per cent), according to official results announced by Election Commission (EC) said.

In Azamgarh, the contest was slightly closer with BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua', who is also a well known Bhojpuri entertainer, winning with almost 34.4 per cent of the votes but being closely followed by SP's candidate and Akhilesh Yadav's cousin, Dharmendra Yadav with 33.4 per cent of the votes.

BSP's Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali stood third spot in Azamgarh with close to 29 per cent of the votes.

Both seats were held by the SP in 2019 polls.

In the 2022 Assembly elections, the SP+ won all the five assembly constituencies in the Azamgarh parliamentary constituency. In Rampur, of the five assembly constituencies the Lok Sabha segment, the SP+ won three while the BJP won two.

The bypolls were necessitated due to the resignations of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and party leader Azam Khan from Azamgarh and Rampur seats, respectively after their victory in the recent Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

After leading initially, the SP candidates in both the seats trailed as the counting of votes progressed. Though the outcome of the bypolls in the politically significant state will not make much of a difference in the numerical strength of the parties in the Lok Sabha, the fall of bastions of SP is considered important from the point of view of the 2024 general elections.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) already has 62 out of the total 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The bypoll victory has increased the party's tally to 64, while the count of Akhilesh Yadav's party has come down to three from five.

The BJP's victory in the SP bastions also shows the saffron party's growing popularity after a comfortable victory in the February-March state polls.

For the main opposition party, the result reflects its losing grip over Muslims and Yadavs, the citadel of their ''MY'' support base.

The two constituencies voted on June 23, with Azamgarh recording a turnout of 49.43 per cent and Rampur 41.39 per cent. In 2019, the vote percentage in Azamgarh was 63.19, while Rampur had witnessed 57.56 per cent polling.

With inputs from PTI.