Lucknow,
Springing a surprise, the SP-BSP “poll understanding” in Uttar Pradesh today defeated the BJP in the byelections to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats, the first vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath and the other by Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on their election to the state Legislative Council.
Profusely thanking BSP chief Mayawati, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav described it as “the victory of social justice”. Later in the day, he drove to Mayawati’s residence to express his gratitude.
Jubilant SP workers distributed sweets, burst crackers and applied gulal on one another amid chants of “bua-bhatija zindabad”.
Rather stunned by the defeat, CM Yogi attributed it to the “unnatural deal” between the SP and the BSP and BJP’s “over-confidence”. During the campaign, the BJP had repeatedly described the byelections as a referendum on the four-year rule of the PM Narendra Modi government at the Centre and the year-old Yogi government in UP.
In Phulpur, SP’s Nagendra Singh Patel defeated his BJP rival and former Varanasi Mayor Kaushlendra Singh Patel by 59,613 votes. Mafia don-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad, who contested from behind the bars, was expected to dent the chances of the SP candidate. He polled 48,087 votes. Despite that, the SP victory margin was impressive.
In Yogi’s bastion Gorakhpur (he represented the seat five times in the Lok Sabha) SP’s Praveen Nishad defeated BJP rival Upendra Dutt Shukla by 21,961 votes. Earlier in the day, there was a commotion with DM Rajeev Rautela asking the media to leave. But the Election Commission intervened and the results began trickling in.
While the electoral understanding between the SP and BSP proved to be a game- changer, the support of other OBC and Muslim parties, such as the Nishad Party and Peace Party, further consolidated the OBC-Muslim-Dalit front. The Lok Dal and the Left also extended support to the SP candidates.
