A 56.13% turnout, as per the Voter Turnout app of the Election Commission of India, was recorded in Azamgarh, which went to polls along with 13 other Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday.
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, a former CM, was up against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate, Bhojpuri actor Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’.
SP patron Mulayam Singh won Azamgarh in 2014. It was one of the five seats SP won, when BJP swept UP winning 71 out of 80 seats.
Azamgarh has so far elected 12 Yadav candidates in 16 general elections and two by-polls. Muslims, Other Backward Classes or OBCs and Dalits dominate Azamgarh. OBCs and Muslims have traditionally supported the SP. The SP’s alliance partner, Bahujan Samaj Party, counts Dalits among its core support base.
Yadav will bank on the development work carried out under his regime as CM.