India

Yogi’s home turf Gorakhpur gives BJP a scare, party on backfoot as SP takes lead in byelections

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogi Adityanath is facing a serious challenge on his home turf Gorakhpur. The byelections for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha Assembly seat is turning out to be in Samajwadi Party’s favour.

After 11 rounds of counting, SP candidate Pravin Kumar Nishad is leading by 13,879 votes against his nearest rival and BJP candidate Upendra Dutt Shukla in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha byelection. Nishad has received 1,63,941 votes, while Shukla is trailing with 1,50,062 votes.

The BJP is also trailing in Phulpur where Samajwadi Party candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel is leading by almost 23,000 votes after 15 rounds.

The tension and the importance of the elections can be understood from the fact that Gorakhpur District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela is himself present at the counting centre to monitor the proceedings and to maintain law and order.

The two constituencies went to polls last Sunday. Phulpur recorded a voter turnout of 37.39 per cent, while Gorakhpur saw 47.45 per cent voting. The bypolls were necessitated after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively after their election to the state legislative council.

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