BJP defeats SP in UP assembly by-poll, Akhilesh alleges misuse of official machinery

BJP defeated the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the by-poll in the Gola Gokarannath assembly constituency in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh.

BJP nominee Aman Giri defeated SP candidate Vinay Tewari by over 34 thousand votes. BJP has retained the seat.

According to official sources, Aman Giri secured a little over 1.24 lakh votes while Tewari could secure only 90 thousand votes.

The by-poll was necessitated after BJP's sitting MLA Arvind Giri's death last month following a cardiac arrest.

UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior leaders of the BJP hailed the victory and said that the result showed that the saffron party would once again sweep the state in the next general elections scheduled for 2024. The BJP nominee had won the seat by 29 thousand votes in the March assembly polls in the state.

''The result proves that the people of the state are going to support us in the next Lok Sabha elections,'' said a senior UP BJP leader here on Sunday.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav, however, accused the BJP government of 'misusing' the official machinery to win the poll. ''Free and fair elections are not possible under the BJP rule....the party believes in winning elections by hook or by crook,'' he alleged.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesman Rakesh Tikait also said that the BJP had won the Gola Gokarannath seat by misusing the official machinery.

With the BSP and Congress deciding to opt out, the forthcoming by-poll on the Gola Gokarannath assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district would witness a direct contest between the BJP and its arch-rival Samajwadi Party (SP).