UP bypolls: Manoj Tiwari, Ravi Kishan welcome ‘younger brother’ Dinesh Lal Yadav to Lok Sabha

With Yadav's election to the Lok Sabha from Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh seat, the three Bhojpuri superstars-turned-politicians will all represent the BJP in Parliament's lower house.

Bhojpuri actors-turned politicians, Manoj Tiwari and Ravi Kishan, on Sunday congratulated fellow Bhojpuri superstar, Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, who was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) by winning bypolls to Uttar Pradesh's Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat.

Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’ collects his winning certificate. (twitter.com/nirahua1)

“I welcome my younger brother @nirhua1…now Azamgarh will what difference an MP can make…many thanks to voters of Azamgarh,” tweeted Manoj Tiwari, the BJP's MP from North East Delhi.

Meanwhile, Ravi Kishan thanked the Bhojpuri society ‘from the bottom of my heart.’ The saffron party's MP from Gorakhpur tweeted: “Thank you for increasing the respect and pride of (PM Narendra) Modi and Maharaj Ji (UP CM Yogi Adityanath). Thank you for electing Nirahua as parliamentarian.”

Dinesh Lal Yadav, 43, defeated Dharmendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Shah Alam of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in a tight contest to wrest the seat from the SP. Of the total votes cast, ‘Nirhua’ secured 312,768 (34.39%) votes, while Dharmendra Yadav and Shah Alam bagged 304,089 (33.44%) and 266,106 (20.27%) votes, respectively, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The bypolls, which were held on Thursday, were necessitated as SP chief Akhilesh Yadav vacated the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat after being elected as a legislator from the Karhal assembly seat in March. The counting of votes was held today.

In the 2019 general elections, Dinesh Lal Yadav finished runner-up to Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh. While the actor-politician won 361,704 (35.1%) votes, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister secured 621,578 (60.04%) out of the total votes polled on this seat.