LUCKNOW (UTTAR PRADESH): Even as trends of the assembly election results showed BJP retaining power in Uttar Pradesh with a comfortable majority, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party seemed to have improved its performance. Congress, however, put up one of its worst showing.
Yadav was leading with a comfortable margin in his family pocket borough of Karhal in Mainpuri district while State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu was trailing behind BJP candidate Asim Kumar by nearly 26000 votes in Tamkuhi Raj assembly constituency in Kushinagar district.
Congress, which faced a lot of defections in run up to assembly elections, was suffering the most in the assembly election. It was leading on only three seats, as per official data.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance crossed the majority mark and was leading in more than 265 assembly constituencies. Former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and its allies were ahead in the race on 123 seats.
ALSO READ: We Crossed 200-Mark By 4th Phase Only: Akhilesh Yadav To The New Indian
As per the Election Commission data of counting of votes up to seven rounds, Akhilesh Yadav was leading from his assembly seat by a margin of over 11,000 votes. Samajwadi Party’s jailed leader Azam Khan was also leading from Rampur assembly constituency in Azamgarh district.
Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav, who had represented Jaswantnagar assembly seat in Etawah district for five consecutive terms, was also leading after trailing in first few rounds to BJP. This seat was represented by SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav for seven times and is considered to be a strong hold of the party.
From Suar assembly seat, Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan is also leading by more than 13,000 votes to BJP ally Apna Dal’s Haidar Ali Khan alias Hamza Mian after six rounds of counting.
ALSO READ: Yogi’s Bulldozer Crushes Akhilesh Yadav’s Cycle In UP
In Kairana, Samajwadi Party’s Nahid Hasan was also ahead of BJP’s Mriganka Singh.
In Mau assembly constituency, mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari’s son Abbas Ansari, who contested on Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party’s (SBSP) ticket as alliance partner of Samajwadi Party, was trailing behind BJP’s Ashok Kumar Singh by more than 7,500 votes.
Meanwhile, in Mohammadabad, Mukhtar Ansari’s nephew and former MLA Sibagtulla Ansari’s son Suhaib alias Mannu Ansari, who contested on Samajwadi Party ticket, was leading. Sitting BJP MLA Alka Rai was at the second place.
In setback for Congress, its state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu is also trailing from Tumkahiraj assembly seat of Kushinagar district. BJP’s Asim Kumar is leading from the seat.
Meanwhile, Congress turncoat Aditi Singh and ‘Raja of Amethi’ Sanjay Sinh, who had joined BJP are leading from Rae Bareli and Amethi assembly seat respectively.
Sinh, 70, is trailing Samajwadi Party’s Maharaji Prajapati, who is wife of jailed politician Gayatri Prajapati in Amethi.
In 2017 polls, his estranged first wife Garima Singh won as the BJP candidate over his second wife Ameeta Singh, who was with the Congress. Both Sinh and his second wife had joined BJP.
Congress Aradhana Mishra Mona is also leading from Rampur Khas assembly seat.
In a surprise, OBC leader Dharam Singh Saini, who resigned as BJP minister and joined Samajwadi Party, is leading by over 5,000 votes in Nakur assembly seat.
Samajwadi Party had joined hands with RLD, Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and the Apna Dal (K), a rival of the NDA ally Apna Dal (S).
On Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav accused the ruling BJP of “stealing” votes and claimed that his party workers intercepted a truck carrying EVMs in Varanasi. He also claimed that vehicles transporting ballots were intercepted in at least three districts. However, the Election Commission has said the EVMs were being brought in Varanasi for the training of polling officers scheduled on Wednesday, and insisted that the “EVMs used in polling are sealed and guarded and are being observed through 24×7 monitoring”.
The Congress had decided to contest on all 403 seats on its own and also fielded 40 per cent women candidates as promised by Party general Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Priyanka Gandhi has campaigned aggressively in Uttar Pradesh for the party candidates and was one of the main star campaigner of the party in the state where it has been out of power since 1989.