Uttar Pradesh Bypoll Results 2018: BJP Loses Gorakhpur & Phulpur to SP Backed by BSP, Yogi Adityanath Concedes Defeat

Lucknow, Mar 14: The bye-election results of Gorakhpur and Phulpur sent jitters down the BJP camp as the party lost both the parliamentary seats to the Samajwadi Party.

The loss in Gorakhpur came as a major embarrassment to the ruling party, as the seat was represented for five consecutive terms by incumbent Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The defeat in Phulpur also raises questions of anti-incumbency against the one-year-old Yogi government, as the seat was last represented by Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya.

Reacting to the bypoll results, Yogi said, "We were overconfident. We failed to gauge the impact of SP-BSP alliance. Although we have been defeated, but the saudebaazi (tradeship) of SP-BSP has been exposed."

From Phulpur, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated BJP's Kaushlendra Patel by a margin of 59,613 votes.

In Gorakhpur, where SP had given the ticket to Nishad-community leader Praveen Nishad, the flags of BSP were waiving all over following his victory against the BJP. "This is a victory of all those who believe in social justice," he said.

Although the final numbers were not declared, Nishad was leading by 32,317 votes after 38th round of counting. The margin was decisive enough for the BJP to concede defeat.

The message for 2019 was clear as the Samajwadi Party dedicated the wins to BSP supremo Mayawati.

Senor SP leader and key Akhilesh Yadav aide Ram Govind Chaudhary met Mayawati and expressed gratitude on behalf of the party for her support ahead of the bye-elections.

"This is not just the victory of SP. This is the victory of Behen Mayawati ji. This is the victory of our common ideology," he said, while speaking to reporters.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 14, 2018 06:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).