Dimple Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, wins with a huge margin; Akash Saxena stuns Azam Khan protégé in the prestigious seat
Our Bureau
Ahmedabad
Dimple Yadav, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, has registered a glorious win in the prestige battle for the Samajwadi Party’s stronghold in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri. The seat was vacated following the death of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh’s father, in October. Challenging her was the BJP’s Raghuraj Singh Shakya, said to be a former close associate of Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav.
Dimple Yadav has won with a huge margin of 2,80,000 votes. The husband-wife duo – soon after the magnificent win – addressed a presser. “Voters have endorsed the politics of Netaji (his father) and development he did in Mainpuri, we will take it forward. The administration created pressure but voters defied it,” Akhilesh Yadav said, taking a dig at the Yogi Adityanath government.
Alleging injustice against SP candidate in Rampur, he said: “If it had been fair election in Rampur, it would have been a historic win.”
For the first time, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday won the Rampur Sadar assembly seat, considered a stronghold of the Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan when its candidate Akash Saxena defeated his nearest rival, Asim Raja.
BJP’s Akash Saxena defeated Azam’s nominee Asim Raza in a close battle by a margin of over 34,000 votes. Akash Saxena after winning from the Muslim-majority Rampur seat said, “I salute and express my gratitude to all the people of Rampur for their contribution, especially all the Hindus and Muslims in this historic victory.”
SP lost the seat within six months of winning the Rampur Lok Sabha seat in June.
In the 2022 assembly elections, Saxena had contested from Rampur Sadar against SP’s senior leader Azam Khan who had contested the seat from behind bars but failed to defeat him.
Saxena won by defeating Asim Raza, a close aide of Azam who first lost the Rampur Lok Sabha bypolls as SP candidate and now the Rampur Sadar assembly bypolls within a span of six months.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, deputy chief ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, BJP state president Bhupendra Chaudhary, several UP ministers and many others campaigned extensively in Rampur for Akash. Former union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, who hails from Rampur, held several door-to-door meetings in Rampur.
In another results, Congress candidate Savitri Mandavi defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Brahmanand Netam by 21,171 votes in Bhanupratappur bypoll in Chhattisgarh on Thursday.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has reacted over the victory of the congress party. He said that the difference between Congress and BJP would remain the same as it was seen in this election. The result would be the same in 2023 as it was seen in 2018. CM further said that former CM Raman Singh called me Muswa (Rat), Bilai (Cat) and Kukur (Dog) but in Bhanupratappur the public turned out to be a Baghwa (Tiger).
Baghel said, “BJP continued to struggle for the second and third place even after the party had fielded its biggest election manager, Brijmohan Agarwal in Bhanupratappur. Earlier Agarwal, who was considered the guarantee of the election, remained there but the public turned out to be a Baghwa (tiger) and extended their support with the congress.”
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi on Thursday demanded Chief Minister of Bihar Nitish Kumar’s ‘resignation’ after BJP defeated the Janata Dal (United) in Kurhani Assembly bypoll, the result of which was declared on Thursday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the Kurhani Assembly seat defeating the Janata Dal (United) by 3,645 votes. BJP’s Kedar Prasad Gupta won the bypoll by securing 76,722 votes, while JD (U)’s Manoj Kushwaha Singh got 73,073 votes, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
Commenting on the poll result, Sushil Kumar Modi said, “After the defeat in Gopalganj and now in Kurhani Assembly Bypoll Nitish Kumar should resign. In the 2014 Lok Sabha Election Nitish Kumar was reduced to 2 seats in Bihar and then had to resign, similarly, he should accept that his popularity has decreased.”
