Despite facing questions over his handling of the law and order situation and sensitive caste equations in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and the BJP on Tuesday looked set to retain all the six seats it had won in 2017. The SP won the seventh seat, Malhani in Jaunpur, which it had held in 2017, in bypolls in which the Opposition parties failed to make a mark.
The BSP and Congress failed to open their score despite securing respectable share of votes on some seats.
Mr. Adityanath had campaigned in all seven seats. The bypolls were held at a time when he was facing heat over the mishandling of the Hathras rape case, the aftermath of Bikru shootout case and killing of wanted criminal Vikas Dubey in Kanpur.
As per the Election Commission of India, the BJP won in Deoria Sadar and Bangermau (Unnao) and was set to win comfortably in Bulandshahr, Ghatampur (Kanpur) and Tundla (Firozabad) and was soaring ahead in Nauwagan Sadat (Amroha) in a hard contest.
In Malhani, the SP’s Lucky Yadav saw off a strong challenge by former MP and alleged "Bahubali" (strongman) politician Dhananjay Singh, who contested as an independent, and defeated him by a just 4,632 votes.
In Deoria, where all the four top parties fielded Brahmins, BJP’s Satyaprakash Mani Tripathi defeated the SP's Brahma Shankar Tripathi by over 20,000 votes.
Addressing the media as the trends indicated a positive result for the BJP, Mr. Adityanath said the party had repeated its performance of 2017 and 2019. Through the bypolls the BJP had sent a “message” that it will perform strongly in the upcoming Assembly election in 2022, Mr. Adityanath said.
The result in U.P. as well as in other States indicated the “common people's faith” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's schemes and programmes of public welfare, poor welfare, national security and bringing prestige to the country at the global stage, the CM said.
In Bangermau, the Congress' Arti Bajpai fought hard to secure a second place against the BJP’s Shrikant Katiyar, losing by over 31,000 votes. The seat was vacated in controversial circumstances for the BJP after its MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was convicted in a rape case.
In Bulandshar, the RLD candidate Praveen Kumar Singh, supported by the SP, failed to perform and lagged with only around 7,000 votes as the BSP’s Mohammad Yunus unsuccessfully challenged the BJP’s Usha Sirohi in a polarized two-way contest.
In Ghatampur, the BJP’s Upendra Nath Paswan eased past his opponents by over 23,000 votes while the SP, whose leader Akhilesh Yadav has projected himself to the main challenger to the BJP in 2022, was left embarrassed with a fourth spot position.
In Naugawa Sadat, the BJP’s Sangeeta Chauhan, widow of deceased cabinet minister and former cricketer Chetan Chauhan, looked set to defeat the SP’s Javed Abbas. In Tundla, the BJP’s Prempal Singh Dhangar saw off a spirited fight from the SP's Maharaj Singh Dhangar by a margin of over 15,000 votes.
With a score of six and one for the BJP and SP respectively, and a nil for the Congress and BSP, the Opposition parties failed to apply pressure on Mr. Adityanath at a time he was facing criticism over a spate of crimes, alleged perceived discontent among the powerful Brahmin community and anger among a section of Dalits over the Hathras rape and forced cremation incident.
The bypoll on seven seats, though only a tiny fraction of the 403-member Assembly, was not only a test of anti-incumbency against and personal brand of Mr. Adityanath but also a stage for the SP, BSP and Congress to battle out to claim the post of the main challenger to the BJP in 2022 Assembly polls and provide a psychological boost to their cadre and supporters.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra's overtures in U.P. over the past year and the party's wooing of Brahmins failed to materialize into poll results. By putting up a poor fight in Bulandshahr the RLD-SP alliance has also put itself under scrutiny.
In Deoria, the Congress candidate just secured over 3600 votes.
