UP bypoll: BSP wrests Suar Tanda, Farrukhabad, SP retains Gunnaur

Lucknow, Sep 3 (UNI) The ruling Bahujan Samaj Party has won the Suar Tanda and Farrukhabad seats, while the main opposition Samajwadi Party retained the Gunnaur constituency in the assembly bypolls, held on August 31 in Uttar Pradesh.

While the BSP wrested the Suar Tanda seat in Rampur district and Farrukhabad seat from the Samajwadi Party, the opposition party managed to retain the Gunnaur seat. The BJP and the Congress drew a blank.

State Health Minister and BSP candidate Anant Kumar Mishra won the Farrukhabad seat, defeating his nearest rival Vijay Singh of the Congress by over 15,000 votes.

Singh, who had won the last assembly poll on an SP ticket by a margin of over 10,000 votes, had vacated the seat after joining the BSP. Later, he switched over to the Congress after the BSP booted him when he was convicted in a murder case.

Electioneering for the Farukkhbad seat had been embroiled in controversy as Chief Minister Mayawati, who had made winning the seat a prestige issue, attacked the Congress and its state unit chief Salman Khurshid over the minority issue.

In the Gunnaur seat, represented by former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in his last tenure, SP candidate Pradeep Yadav defeated his nearest BSP nominee Deepak Yadav by over 13,000 votes.

In the assembly polls, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav had won the seat by a margin of 31,647 votes.

In Suar Tanda, BSP candidate Kazim Ali defeated his nearest BJP rival Shiv Bahadur Saxena by over 49,000 votes. The SP candidate managed the third spot.

In the last assembly elections, Mr Ali, who was a Samajwadi Party candidate, had won the seat by over 14,000 votes.

The bypoll was necessitated following Mr Ali's resignation from the SP. He later joined the BSP.

With these wins, the BSP's strength in the assembly rose to 211 in the 403-member house while the strength of the SP became 95.

UNI