UP polls: Lakhimpur Kheri violence casts no shadow, BJP wins all eight seats again - Hindustan Times
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UP polls: Lakhimpur Kheri violence casts no shadow, BJP wins all eight seats again

ByOliver Fredrick and Deo Kant Pandey, Lucknow/lakhimpur Kheri
Mar 10, 2022 11:41 PM IST

Seven of the BJP winners in Lakhimpur Kheri district are sitting MLAs who retained the Palia, Nighasan, Gola, Srinagar, Mohammadi, Lakhimpur and Kasta seats

Billed as a major poll issue, the October 3 violence that claimed eight lives had no impact on the assembly election results in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all eight seats again.

BJP supporters celebrate the party’s victory in Lakhimpur Kheri. (HT PHOTO)
BJP supporters celebrate the party’s victory in Lakhimpur Kheri. (HT PHOTO)

Seven of the winners are sitting MLAs who retained the Palia, Nighasan, Gola, Srinagar, Mohammadi, Lakhimpur and Kasta seats. The eighth seat was also won by a BJP candidate who had replaced the sitting MLA in Dhaurhara.

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In the 2017 state assembly elections, too, the BJP had won all eight assembly seats in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

The BJP candidates took the lead in six of the eight assembly seats soon after counting began on Thursday. But the party faced a tough fight from the Samajwadi Party for two seats — Mohammadi and Palia. The picture became clear only after 10 rounds of counting.

Sitting BJP MLA Shashank Verma retained the Nighasan assembly seat by a margin of 41,207 votes which is the maximum margin in the district. Verma polled 1,26,488 votes and defeated the SP’s RS Kushwaha who secured 85,479 votes. Nigahasan is the same assembly constituency where the Lakhimpur Kheri violence was reported on October 3, 2021 in Banbirpur village under Tikunia police station limits.

Eight people, including four farmers were killed in violence during a farmers’ protest that day.

“No doubt Lakhimpur violence was a major incident but it was never a poll issue for the people,” said Prashant Shukla, a local from Lakhimpur Kheri.

In Lakhimpur, the BJP’s Yogesh Verma defeated the Samajwadi Party’s Utkarsh Verma Madhur by a margin of 20,578 votes.

The BJP’s Arvind Giri retained the Gola seat, defeating SP’s Vinay Tiwari by a margin of 29,294 votes.

Arvind Giri polled 1,26,534 votes and Tiwari polled 97,240 votes.

In Kasta, BJP’s Saurabh Singh defeated SP’s Suneel Kumar Lala by 14,164 votes.

Saurabh Singh polled 1,03,315 votes and Suneel Kumar Lala got 89,498 votes.

In Sri Nagar, the BJP’s Manju Tyagi defeated the SP’s Ram Sharan by 17,608 votes.

Manju Tyagi got 1,08,249 votes and Ram Sharan polled 90,641 votes.

In Dhaurahra, the BJP’s Vinod Shankar defeated the SP’s Varun Singh by 24, 610 votes.

While Vinod Shankar got 1,13,498 votes, Varun Singh (SP) polled 88,888 votes.

He had replaced sitting MLA Bala Prasad Awasthi who had crossed over to the Samajwadi Party just before the polls and returned to the party fold a few days after.

In Mohammadi, the BJP’s Lokendra Pratap Singh defeated the SP’s Daud Ahmed by 4,871 votes.

Lokendra Pratap Singh polled 99,377 votes and Daud Ahmed got 94,506 votes.

In Palia, BJP’s MLA Harvinder Kumar aka Romi Sahni lagged behind his rival SP candidate in the first nine rounds of counting but started leading from the 10th round. Eventually, he won the seat, defeating SP’s Paritinder Singh Kakku by a margin of 38,129 votes.

Sahni polled 1,18,864 votes and SP’s Paritinder Singh Kakku secured 80,735 votes.

It was Sahni’s third successive win from Palia. He had won the seat on the BJP ticket in 2017 and on the BSP ticket in 2012.

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