Name 'RAMPUR' - but a Hindu never won election here, until THIS man came in...

Akash Saxena became first Hindu candidate since independence to win the seat.

Uttar Pradesh's Rampur - an assembly seat with a majority Muslim population - has been a bastion for the Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, and the stronghold of his right-hand man - Azam Khan - for the past many decades. Rampur - a district whose literal translation comes down to 'city of Lord Rama' - had, interestingly, never seen a Hindu legislator representing it until this year's state by-election.

However, BJP leader Akash Saxena, backed by a battery of BJP's national leaders including Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, somehow pulled the miracle of wresting this seat from the hands of Samajwadi Party this time. Saxena became first Hindu candidate since independence to win the seat.

Akash Saxena's victory broke a long record of the seat being represented only by Muslims or Pathan. The people of Rampur, this time, rejected all the appeals made by Azam Khan, who represented the Rampur Assembly seat from 1980 to 1995 and from 2002.

After Gujarat and Himachal polls the result for this seat was long-awaited. Even PM Narendra Modi mentioned victory at Rampur Assembly seat victory.

Azam Khan's disqualification led to bypolls in which Samajwadi Party candidate Asim Raja secured 47,000 votes, while BJP candidate Akask Saxena obtained 81,000 votes.

Saxena has defeated Samajwadi Party candidate Asim Raza by more than 33,000 votes, said the state election officials.

SP candidate Asim Raza, while leaving the counting centre, said that there was no election because 2.25 lakh people were not allowed to cast their vote. "It was the police that held this election and cast its vote. This is no election," he said as he walked away with his supporters.

Asim Raza had been leading till the 21st round, but then suddenly the trend changed and the BJP started leading.