
Delivering a major blow to the BJP, the Samajwadi Party today won Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh by-election. Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated BJP's Kaushlendra Singh Patel by 59,613 votes in Phulpur. In Yogi Adityanath's bastion, SP's Praveen Kumar Nishad defeated BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla by 21000 votes.
Gorakhpur and Phulpur are high-profile constituencies as both the seats were represented by BJP's firebrand leader and current UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya respectively. Adityanath represented Gorakhpur five times in the Lok Sabha, and it went vacant in 2017 when he was elected to UP Assembly to take over as the Chief Minister of the state.
In 2014, BJP had won both the seats with over 3 lakh vote margin. In Gorakhpur, BJP's Yogi Adityanath had defeated SP's Rajmati Nishad by 31,2783 votes. And in Phulpur, BJP's Keshav Prasad Maurya defeated SP's Dharam Raj Singh Patel by 3,08,308 votes. However, currently the BJP is trailing on both the seats. Ten candidates are in fray from Gorakhpur and 22 candidates contested from Phulpur.
LIVE UPDATES
18:15 pm: I want to thank the people of Gorakhpur and Phulpur. I also want to thank Mayawati ji for this win: SP leader Akhilesh Yadav.
18:02 pm: The alliance between SP-BSP is a trade-off to stall development in the country. We'll prepare a strategy about this: UP CM Yogi Adityanath on by-poll results.
17:35 pm: We accept the verdict of the people, this result is unexpected, we will review the shortcomings. I congratulate the winning candidates: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on UP bypoll results.
17:22 pm: Polling percentage has gone down which affected the result of the two seats. We will analyse and work on the places where we lacked and will work harder and perform better in the 2019 elections: UP BJP Chief Mahendra Nath Pandey on bypoll results.
17:02 pm: Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel has won Phulpur Lok Sabha seat by 59,613 votes: ANI
16:30 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a tweet congratulated BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. She said: "Great victory. Congratulations to Mayawati Ji and @yadavakhilesh Ji for #UPByPolls. The beginning of the end has started."
16:20 pm: Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel is leading by 47,351 with 3,05,172 votes in Phulpur after 28th round of counting.
16:15 pm: In Gorakhpur, SP's Praveen Kumar Nishad is leading by 22,954 votes with 3,77,146 votes and BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla is at second with 3,54,192 votes after 25th round of counting.
#Gorakhpur ByPoll: SP, BSP workers celebrate in Gorakhpur as the SP candidate Praveen Kumar Nishad leads in the counting of votes. pic.twitter.com/bZsZKhJPt3
- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 14, 2018
15:25 pm: UP ki janta ne sarkaar mein avishwaas vyakt kar diya hai spasht taur par. UP ki janta samajh chuki hai ki saare desh ki janta ko murkh bana rahe hain aur swayam bhagwan ko dhoka de rahe hain: SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav
15:06 pm: Leader of the opposition and Samajwadi Party member Ram Govind Choudhury met Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati in Lucknow.
Leader of the opposition and Samajwadi Party member Ram Govind Choudhury met Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati in #Lucknow pic.twitter.com/NRtNNwQ70E
- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 14, 2018
14:56 pm: We didn't expect that BSP's vote will be transferred to Samajwadi Party. We will analyze after seeing the final results & prepare for a situation in future when BSP, SP and Congress can come together in 2019 elections: UP Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya
14:50 pm: In Phulpur constituency, Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel is leading by 29,474 with 2,18,963 votes and BJP's Kaushlendra Singh Patel is at second with 1,89,489 votes after 20th round of counting.
13: 55 pm: In Gorakhpur, SP's Praveen Kumar Nishad is leading with 2,12,061 votes and BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla is at second position with 1,92,860 votes after 14th round of counting.
13:45 pm: In Phulpur constituency, Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel is leading by 22,842 with 1,67,008 votes and BJP's Kaushlendra Singh Patel is at second with 1,44,166 votes after 15th round of counting.
12: 10 pm: UP Legislative Assembly speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit adjourned the Assembly briefly after a jubilant SP members created ruckus in the House.
Lucknow Assembly adjourned for 10 minutes following ruckus over the issue of media being kept out of counting centre in Gorakhpur, the issue was raised by SP's Ram Govind Chaudhary.
- ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 14, 2018
Samajwadi Party and BSP workers have begun celebration as SP candidates are leading on both Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats. In the by-election, BSP supremo Mayawati had extended her support to Samajawadi Party and did not field BSP candidates on Phulpur and Gorakhpur seats.
In the prestigious Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla was trailing behind Praveen Nishad of the SP by over 1,500 votes at the end of third round of counting. Gorakhpur District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela announced that after the third round of counting, SP's Praveen Nishad polled 44,979 votes against 43,457 votes polled for BJP's Shukla.
In Phulpur, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel was leading by 8,199 votes after seven rounds of counting. The SP candidate from Phulpur was ahead of BJP candidate Kaushalendra Patel. Independent Atiq Ahmed was at the third spot, followed by Congress.
(With inputs from agencies)