BSP leads in 2, SP in 1 in UP bypolls

Lucknow, Sep 3: Ruling Bahujan Samaj Party was leading in two assembly constituencies while the main opposition Samajwadi Party in one in the by-elections of three assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh held on August 31.

The counting of votes started this morning for the three assembly seats and in the preleminary rounds BSP candidates in Farrukhabad and Suar Tanda were leading while in Gunnaur Samajwadi party has taken a slender lead.

In Farrukhabad, state minister of health Anant Kumar Mishra was leading by over 9000 votes against Congress candidate Vijay Singh after five rounds of counting while BSP candidate Kazim Ali has taken an undefeatable lead of 31,000 votes againat BJP's Shiv Bahadur Saxena after 12 round of counting in Suar Tanda.

Samajwadi Party candidate Pradeep Yadav was leading by 1250 votes against BSP nominee Deepak Yadav after five rounds of counting at Gunnuar seat in Badaun district.

All the three seats were vacated by Samajwadi Party. Gunnuar seat was left by former chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav after he got elected from both Bharthana and Gunnuar seats in the assembly elections.

SP's Vijay Singh resigned from Farrukhabad seat and joined the BSP but he switched over to Congress after being denied ticket by the party. BSP candidate Kazim Ali was elected on a SP ticket in the last assembly elections from Suar Tanda seat in Rampur district and he resigned from the seat to join the ruling party.

An interesting battle of ballots was witnessed in all the three seats. In Farrukhabad, the issue of outsiders was prominent, while in Suar Tanda, it was a battle of supremacy between the Nawabs, represented by the BSP candidate, and SP leader Mohammd Azam Khan.

BSP minister Anant Kumar Singh, who lost the last assembly polls from Kanpur, was being termed as an ''outsider'' by the other candidates in Farrukhabad. There were 16 candidates in the fray for the seat.

In Yadav-dominated Gunnaur, the SP tried to encash on the popularity of the party chief. Among the 11 contestants, mostly of the Yadav community, was Rashtriya Parivartan Dal(RPD) chief D P Yadav's brother Dharamveer Yadav.

UNI