SP snatches UP's Noorpur assembly seat from BJP

Lucknow: The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Thursday wrested Uttar Pradesh`s Noorpur assembly seat from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

SP`s Naeem-ul-Hasan polled 94,866 votes, against 89,188 obtained by his nearest rival, Avni Singh of the BJP in the bypoll to the assembly constituency in Binore district.

The SP candidate began leading in the vote count right from the postal ballot counting and continued to lead on, a phenomenon which continued to the 21st and the last round.

Bypolls in Noorpur, necessitated by the death of sitting BJP legislator Lokendra Singh in a road accident in February, were held on Monday and had seen a 57.31 per cent turnout amid glitches in EVM-VVPATs. Repolling was held in several booths on Wednesday.

The BJP had fielded his widow Avni Singh in an attempt to gain the electorate`s sympathy but the party`s gamble failed miserably as the opposition closed ranks in favour of the SP candidate.

There were ten other candidates in fray but they all lost their deposits in the keenly fought contest between the SP and BJP candidates.

The drubbing of the ruling party candidate is also been seen as a big blow to the BJP, specially the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, under whose watch the party has lost three parliamentary seats and one state assembly seat, in a little more than a year of its coming to power.