File Photo: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Lucknow: BJP’s hopes to make a clean sweep in Uttar Pradesh were dashed by the Samajwadi Party-led I.N.D.I.A. bloc, which defied all opinion polls and exit poll predictions and reduced the NDA tally to less than half of what it had won in the state in 2019.
As many as six Union ministers, including Smriti Irani, Kaushal Kishore, Ajay Kumar Mishra, Bhanu Pratap Singh, Sadhvi Niranjana Jyoti and Mahendra Nath Pandey, bit the dust in the state in what the experts termed as the most surprising and unexpected outcome of the polls.
Although counting of votes still continued in a few UP constituencies, the opposition alliance comprising SP and Congress won 39 seats and was leading in four more. The BJP and its allies won 34 seats and were ahead in two seats. One seat was won by Aazad Samaj Party's Chandrashekhar Aazad. The BSP drew a blank in the polls.
Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president and UP minister Om Prakash Rajbhar's son Arvind Rajbhar lost in Ghosi.
Former Union minister and eight-time LS MP Maneka Gandhi lost from Sultanpur by 34,000 votes to her SP rival Ram Bhual Nishad.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a hat-trick from the Varanasi seat though with a reduced margin while Defense Minister Rajnath Singh retained his Lucknow seat.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav won his stronghold of Kannauj by defeating BJP’s Subrat Pathak while Dimple Yadav, Akhilesh’s wife, romped home from Mainpuri seat trouncing her nearest BJP rival by more than 2.21 lakh votes.
Of the five members of Mulayam family who contested the polls this time, as many as four managed to win from their respective seats. Only Aditya Yadav was trailing in Budaon LS seat. Akshoy Yadav, son of SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav, won from Firozabad while Akhilesh’s cousin Dharmendra Yadav defeated Bhojpuri film actor Dinesh Lal Yadav alias Nirahua in Azamgarh by over 1.61 lakh votes.
Congress too made a comeback in the state winning four seats up from one in 2019. The grand old party won Barabanki, Raebareli, Amethi, Sitapur, Allahabad and Saharanpur.
The final tally in the state may change as counting was still in progress in a few seats, and in some of these seats the difference between the contestants ranged from 1,000 to 3,000 votes.
In 2019, the BJP had won 62 seats while its alliance partner Apna Dal had won two seats.
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