Cong, SP wrest 3 out of 4 seats in Prayagraj region from BJP

BJP suffered a setback in Prayagraj region, losing 3 out of 4 Lok Sabha seats won in 2019. Congress and INDIA bloc made significant gains.

In a setback, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday lost three out of the four Lok Sabha seats in the Prayagraj region that it had won in 2019. The saffron party, which lost Allahabad, Pratapgarh and Kaushambi to INDIA bloc candidates, could retain only Phulpur.

Congress’ Ujjwal Raman Singh, who won the election to the Allahabad parliamentary constituency on Tuesday (Sourced)

The Congress’ Ujjwal Raman Singh bagged the Allahabad seat by defeating the BJP’s Neeraj Tripathi with a margin of 58,795 votes. He secured 4,62,145 votes in comparison to 4,03,350 votes polled to Tripathi. The BSP’s Ramesh Kumar Patel came third with 49,144 votes.

The Congress bagged the seat after a gap of 40 years. Actor Amitabh Bachchan had last won it for the party in 1984. In 2019, the BJP’s Rita Bahuguna Joshi secured a decisive win by getting 4,94,454 votes. Joshi’s formidable lead had left her closest rival, Rajendra Singh Patel of the Samajwadi Party, trailing far behind with 3,10,179 votes.

In Phulpur Lok Sabha seat, BJP candidate and sitting MLA from the Phulpur assembly seat Praveen Patel emerged victorious. He defeated SP’s Amar Nath Singh Maurya by a narrow margin of 4,332 votes. He bagged 4,52,600 votes against 4,48,268 votes polled to Maurya. In 2019, the BJP’s Keshari Devi Patel emerged victorious after getting 5,44,701 votes. Her closest rival, Pandhari Yadav of the Samajwadi Party had secured 3,72,733 votes, falling short by a considerable margin of 1,71,968 votes.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party’s Shiv Pal Singh Patel bagged the Pratapgarh parliamentary seat by defeating his nearest rival and sitting BJP MP Sangam Lal Gupta with a margin of 66,206 votes. Patel secured 4,41,932 votes while Gupta managed to get just 3,75,726 votes. The BSP’s Pratamesh Mishra ‘Senani’ came third with 80,144 votes.

In 2019, BJP’s Sangam Lal Gupta had emerged triumphant with an impressive tally of 4,36,291 votes defeating his closest rival, Ashok Tripathi of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) who could manage just 318,539 votes, losing by a margin of 1,17,752 votes.

Samajwadi Party’s Pushpendra Saroj clinched the Kaushambi seat from two-term sitting MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar of the BJP. A win with a victory margin of 1,03,944 votes against his nearest rival Sonkar, Saroj secured 5,09,787 votes. BSP’s Shubh Narayan stood third with a total of 55,858 votes.

In 2019, Sonkar emerged victorious with 383,009 votes. His nearest opponent, Indrajeet Saroj of the Samajwadi Party fell short by 38,722 votes.