Rampur: The BJP  has claimed victory in the bypoll to the Rampur Assembly seat while the Samajwadi Party conceded defeat even before the counting was completed and the results could be announced on Thursday. BJP candidate Akash Saxena has defeated Samajwadi Party candidate Asim Raza by more than 33,000 votes, said the state election officials.


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Saxena, the winning BJP candidate,  told the reporters that he would work to develop Rampur as an industrial hub. He said that Rampur had broken the shackles of slavery after 50 years and had chosen the BJP.


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. 


In other by-elections, the Samajwadi Party candidate Dimple Yadav registered a landslide victory in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat by trouncing the BJP rival Raghuraj Singh Shakya, while the BJP wrested the Kurhani assembly seat in Bihar on Thursday, dealing a blow to the Nitish Kumar-led ruling grand alliance in the state, as counting of votes was underway for the December 5 by-elections.