Lucknow, June 1: Laxmi Narayan Chaudhary, a BJP MLA who represents the Chhata seat, has made a bizarre claim to explain the reason for loss of BJP in the 2018 bypoll elections, results for which were out yestrerday. The minister, who also has the additional charge of Dairy Farming, Culture and Minority Welfare has claimed that the BJP's loss in the  Kairana Lok Sabha poll and Noorpur assembly seat is due to the holiday season. Chaudhary has said that because of the holidays, BJP party supporters and their families have gone out for holidays, which resulted in low tornout of voters who would have otherwise voted for the BJP. He also claimed that there is a big difference between bypolls and general elections and that people take part in the latter compared to bypolls.

The Kairana Lok Sabha seat had fallen vacant after the death of BJP party veteran Hukum Singh, who was an MLA from Uttar Pradesh for seven terms and represented the Kairana seat. His death necessitated the by-election and BJP gave a ticket to Hukum Singh's daughter Mriganka Singh who was up against the Rashtriya Lok Dal's Tabassum Hasan. RLD's Tabassum Hasan won the seat by over 55,000 votes.

The Noorpur assembly seat was represented by BJP MLA Lokendra Singh, who passed away in an accident early in the year. Samajwadi Party's Naeem-ul-Hasan emerged the winner from Noorpur assembly seat after the results were announced for bypolls on Thursday. The BJP had given the ticket to the deceased legislator's widow Avnish Singh, who could not win and retain the seat for the BJP.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 01, 2018 03:30 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).