Setback for BJP in UP, SP wins 8 seats

Lucknow, Sep 16: The BJP today ceded ground to the SP, which won eight of the 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh and was leading in another, while the saffron party bagged one seat in the bypolls.

While SP won Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Nighasan, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha, BJP won Saharanpur (city seat), an official spokesman said here.

In the last Assembly election, BJP had won all these Assembly seats and Union Ministers Kalraj Mishra and Uma Bharati were elected as MLAs.

The saffron party was leading in Noida and Lucknow east, whereas its ally, Apna Dal was trailing behind SP candidate in Rohania Assembly seat in Varanasi. SP supremo Mulayam Singh's grand nephew Tej Pratap was leading over his nearest rival BJP's Prem Singh Shakya in Mainpuri Lok Sabha.

The Assembly seats where bypolls were held include Saharanpur city, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan Lucknow east, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania, as also in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which was vacated by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

In Lucknow, former BJP MP Lalji Tandon's son Ashutosh Tandon is leading. While BSP did not contest the bypoll, Congress and SP fielded candidates on all 11 Assembly seats, whereas BJP contested on 10 and its ally Apna Dal on one.

Stakes are high for BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh after the saffron party's near-total sweep of the 80 seats in Lok Sabha polls just four months ago.

PTI