UP bypolls: Early trends show BJP leading in 5 seats, SP, independent in one each

The BJP was leading in five seats while the SP and an independent candidate were leading in one each as counting of votes polled in seven Uttar Pradesh Assembly seats progressed on Tuesday.

Bypolls to seven seats in the state were held last week.

While BJP’s Usha Sirohi is leading in Bulandshahr, Prem Pal Dhangar is leading from Tundla, Shrikant Katiyar from Bangarmau, Satya Prakash Mani Tripathi from Deoria and Upendra Nath Paswan from Ghatampur. SP and independent candidates are leading in Naugawan Sadat and Malhani seats SP’s Javed Abbas is leading from Naugawan Sadat, held by Chetan Chauhan, who was also minister in the Yogi Adityanath government. Abbas is leading by a margin of 4028 over Sangeeta Chauhan of the BJP.

In Malhani, independent Dhananjay Singh is leading over nearest candidate SP’s Lucky Yadav by a margin of about 1236 votes. The seat was earlier with SP’s Parasnath Yadav.

In Bulandshahr, BJP’s Usha Sirohi is leading by a margin of 3725 votes from BSP’s Mohd Yunus while in Tundla, BJP Prempal Singh Dhanghar is leading by a margin of 2890 votes from Mahraj Singh Dhangar of SP.

In Bangarmau, BJP’s Shrikant Katiyar is leading by a margin of 7230 votes over SP’s Suresh Kumar Pal.

In Ghatampur, BJP’s Upendra Nath Paswan is leading by a margin of 807 votes over Kuldeep Shankhwar of BSP while in Deoria, BJP’s Satyaprakash Mani Tripathi is leading by a margin of 2403 votes over SP’s Brahma Shankar Tripathi . An average of over 53 per cent voters had exercised their franchise on November 3 to decide the electoral fortunes of 88 candidates in Naugaon Sadat, Tundla, Bangarmau, Bulandshahr, Deoria, Ghatampur and Malhani Assembly constituencies.

Barring Malhani, which was with the Samajwadi Party, the other seats were in the BJP’s kitty.

The Naugaon Sadat seat fell vacant after the death of state minister and former cricketer Chauhan. The Ghatampur bypoll in Kanpur Nagar district was necessitated due to the death of state minister Varun. Both the ministers died of Covid-19.

The Tundla seat fell vacant after its MLA, S P Singh Baghel, was elected to the Lok Sabha, while the Bangarmau seat in Unnao fell vacant after the conviction of BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar in a rape case.

The BJP had dumped Sengar soon after his involvement in the case was alleged.

The bypolls to the Bulandshahr, Deoria and Malhani seats were necessitated due to the deaths of sitting MLAs Virendra Singh Sirohi, Janmejay Singh and Parasnath Yadav (SP) respectively.

Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Aazad’s Azad Samaj Party has fielded Mohammad Yameen from Bulandshahr to test its electoral popularity.

The Bulandshahr seat has the highest number of 18 candidates while Ghatampur seat has the lowest of six. Sixteen candidates are in the fray in Malhani, 14 each in Naugaon Sadat and Deoria, 10 each in Bangarmau and Tundla.

SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the BJP of indulging in “rigging, fraud and whatever it could through the administration to win the elections”.