UP bypolls: SP consolidates leads in Gorakhpur, Phulpur LS seats

The Samajwadi Party (SP) today strengthened its grip over Uttar Pradesh’s Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats with latest trends showing its candidates establishing sizeable leads over their nearest BJP rivals, indicating a stunning reversal for the state’s ruling party.

In Gorakhpur, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's bastion, SP's Pravin Nishad was leading over BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla by 26,446 votes at the end of the 21st round of counting, election officials said. In Phulpur, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel was leading by 47,351 votes over BJP’s Kaushalendra Singh Patel after 28 rounds of counting, they added. "Though there were still some rounds of counting left, the electorate, it seemed, had decided not to back the saffron party," political observers said.

This bypoll is considered to be important as it tests SP's electoral understanding with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and tie-up with local satraps appeared is working. So far, the partnership seems to have paid dividends. The BJP, on the other hand, is to looking at re-drawing its electoral strategy ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The bypolls were necessitated after Adityanath vacated the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat and Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya the Phulpur seat following their election to the UP legislative council.

Gorakhpur district magistrate Rajeev Rautela, who is also the returning officer, announced that after the third round of counting, Nishad polled 44,979 votes against 43,457 votes polled by Shukla. Congress candidate Sureetha Kareem was a distant third with only 1,712 votes in her kitty.

The trends had an echo in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, when the Leader of the Opposition Ram Gobind Chaudhary pointed out to the Chair that mediapersons were being barred from entering the counting centre in Gorakhpur, and described it as “murder of democracy”. Amid uproarious scenes created by a jubilant SP members, Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit adjourned the House briefly.

Ten nominees are in the fray from Gorakhpur, while 22 candidates contested from Phulpur. The bypolls were necessitated after Adityanath and his Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively, following their election to the state legislative council.

Gorakhpur is significant for the BJP with Adityanath representing the seat in the Lok Sabha five times. Before him, his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath was MP from the seat. Phulpur, once represented by the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, witnessed a saffron surge in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Maurya won the seat.

'Performance to be reviewed'

Maurya said the reasons for the party's performance would be reviewed and future planning done by taking stock of the social and other factors that came into play in the by-elections. He said the margin of defeat was not that significant and added that the party would review what went wrong in its strategy. "BJP had won the Phulpur seat for the first time in 2014 but Gorakhpur has been with the party since long...we will have to see where the social factors went against us or where the workers did not work as hard as expected of them ...,” Maurya said. "We will sit and find a way to deal with the challenge that they (SP) posed later in the campaigning by taking the BSP's help,” he added.

Senior minister and UP government spokesperson Sidharthnath Singh said his party would have to re-draw its electoral strategy following the new understanding between the SP and the BSP. "We still have a year to go for the Lok Sabha polls. We can definitely review our strategy in the light of new political developments," he said.

Gorakhpur has long been considered a BJP stronghold with Adityanath representing the seat in the Lok Sabha five times. Before him, his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath was MP from the seat. Phulpur, once represented by the country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, witnessed a saffron surge in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Maurya won the seat.

'Irregularities in vote-counting'

The Uttar Pradesh unit chief of the Samajwadi Party (SP), Naresh Uttam, has written to the Election Commission (EC), alleging large-scale irregularities in the ongoing counting of votes for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat.

In a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttar Pradesh, a copy of which was also sent to the Chief Election Commissioner of India, the SP leader alleged massive irregularities in the counting of votes and urged the EC to take immediate steps in this regard.

The district administration, under pressure from the chief minister, was out to somehow ensure the victory of the BJP candidate. If the BJP managed to win from Gorakhpur, the people would lose faith in the EC, Uttam said.

He further alleged that as soon as the counting began, the police lathicharged the people and chased them away to ensure that there was no one outside the counting centre and the district magistrate, who is also the district election officer, removed the SP agents from the counting centre.

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