After losses in UP bypolls, BJP now has 274 seats in Lok Sabha, 8 down from 282 in 2014

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New Delhi: The stunning blow to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls has reduced the party to 274 members in the Parliament, as per the Lok Sabha secretariat. 

The BJP needs 272 MPs for a simple majority on its own.

However, the Congress claimed that the BJP had 'lost' its simple majority in the Lok Sabha. It said the BJP now had 271 members, minus the two rebel MPs, Kirti Azad and Shatrughan Sinha.

2017-18 Report Card of BJP is 0/10- BJP lost all 10 LS by-elections in 2017 & 2018.

By-Poll results have given clear message that Ppl are angry with BJP for its arrogance & misrule.

2017-Amritsar,Srinagar, Malappuram,Gurdaspur
2018-Ajmer,Alwar, Uluberia,Gorakhpur,Phulpur,Araria — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 14, 2018

In May 2014, BJP won 282 Lok Sabha seats.

In 4 years, BJP Govt is down to 271, losing the simple majority in Lok Sabha minus its allies - considering the fact that PM Modi has suspended Kirti Azad & virtually disowned their most truthful, fiercely independent Patna Sahib MP. — Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) March 14, 2018

The saffron party on Wednesday lost bypolls to all three Lok Sabha seats it contested, including its bastion Gorakhpur and Phulpur, besides Araria in Bihar.

A consolidation of OBC, Dalit and Muslim votes powered Samajwadi Party candidates to victory in Gorakhpur, a seat represented by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for five successive terms and Phulpur, which elected his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. BJP had won Phulpur for the first time.

SP's Pravin Nishad defeated BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla by 21,961 votes in Gorakhpur, the seat which was with the party since 1989. On the other hand, Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel of SP clinched the Phulpur seat drubbing the saffron party's Kaushalendra Singh Patel by 59,460 votes.

The BJP had scored a thumping victory in UP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and together with ally Apna Dal, had won 73 of the states 80 seats. The NDA allies had polled 43.3 percent votes.

With the win on two Lok Sabha seats in UP, SP's tally has gone up to seven from five in 2014. 

Bypoll wins and losses for BJP since 2014:

In the bypolls since PM Narendra Modi stormed to power, BJP has lost to Congress on four seats, to SP on two seats and to Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on one seat. 

The first bypoll shock for BJP came in from Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam constituency in November 2015. The BJP had won 27 of the 29 seats in the state in 2014. The bypoll on the parliamentary seat was necessitated after the death of sitting BJP MP Dileep Singh Bhuria. The Congress's Kantilal Bhuria won the seat against Dileep Singh Bhuria's daughter Nirmala.

Another setback for the BJP came from Punjab's Gurdaspur in 2017. The bypoll was necessitated after the death of sitting BJP MP and actor-turned-politician Vinod Khanna. Congress's Sunil Singh Jakhar, son of former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar defeated BJP's Swaran Solaria in the constituency by over 1.90 lakh votes. 

The Congress, which had lost in all the 25 seats in Rajasthan in 2014 polls, managed to make a comeback in the state early this year as it won the Lok Sabha bypolls in Alwar and Ajmer. The bypolls were necessitated by the death of BJP MPs Sanwarlal Jat (Ajmer) and Mahant Chand Nath Yogi (Alwar).

However, it was not all loss for the BJP in the bypolls. It won the bypolls in Assam, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

In Assam's Lakhimpur, a poll was necessitated as the sitting MP Sarbananda Sonowal took over as the CM of the state after the party's win. The party retained the seat in the bypoll.

The BJP also won in Madhya Pradesh's Shahdol. The election was necessitated as veteran party leader Dalpat Singh Paraste passed away. 

The BJP also won Vadodara, which has been its traditional stronghold seat. As PM Modi retained his Varanasi seat and resigned from Vadodara, BJP won the seat again easily.

BJP stalwart Gopinath Munde died in a road accident in June 2014 which led to the bypoll in Maharashtra's Beed. His daughter Pritam Munde easily retained the seat for the BJP.

The bypoll in Uttar Pradesh's Kairana is yet to be announced after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh. 

(With PTI and IANS inputs)