Lucknow: The BJP and its ally Apna Dal (S) consolidated Thursday their position in Uttar Pradesh by bagging four seats and leading in 59 others, according to the latest available trends. Prime Minister Narendra Modi won from Varanasi by defeating his nearest rival SP’s Shalini Yadav by a huge margin of 4,79,505 votes.
According to the trends available till 7.00pm, the BJP wrested Bahraich and Gorakhpur seats, while Apna Dal (S) won from Robertsganj. The fifth seat went to the BSP. The party had drawn a blank in the state during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Akshaywar Lal of BJP defeated Shabbir Balmiki of Samajwadi Party by a margin of 1,28,752 votes in Bahraich. The Gorakhpur seat was wrested by Bhojpuri star and BJP candidate Ravi Kishan who defeated SP’s Rambhual Nishad by a margin of 3,01,664 votes. In the by-election, the seat was won by the SP-BSP combine.
Robertsganj seat went to Pakauri Lal Kol of BJP’s alliance partner Apna Dal (Soneylal) who defeated his closest rival Bhai Lal of Samajwadi Party by 54,336 votes.
The BSP won from Nagina where its candidate Girish Chandra defeated Yashwant Singh of BJP by a margin of 1,66,832 votes.
As Union minister Smriti Irani was poised to wrest Amethi from Congress president Rahul Gandhi, she quoted a line from a famous poem to assert that nothing was impossible. “Kaun kehta hai aasmaan mein suraakh nahin ho sakta,” she tweeted after leading by over 45,000 votes in the seat considered a Congress bastion. Her tweet came immediately after Rahul conceded defeat and congratulated the minister.
In neighbouring Rae Bareli constituency, Rahul’s mother and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi led over her nearest rival by over 1.67 lakh votes to give the grand old party a saving grace.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath attributed the impressive show by his party to the ‘alert voters’ who he said rejected the ‘mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) of opposition parties.
“It is high time for the opposition to introspect and shun politics of negativity,” Adityanath said, giving full credit to Modi and BJP president Amit Shah for the ‘historic victory’.
PTI