OPPOSITION Jubilant As overconfident BJP Suffers Humiliation In UP & Bihar

BJP Led  NDA, which won 75  of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and formed  government in the country’s most populous State one year ago demolishing  the Opposition, has suffered a big jolt when the erstwhile ruling party  SP wrested  two prestigious  LS seats from it in by-elections. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath vacated the Phulpur and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya resigned from Phulpur LS seat in Allahabad District. Both the seats have been won by the SP with the support of erstwhile Bahujan Samajwadi Party. In Bihar, RJD has retained Araria LS seat in Bihar  whereby by poll was necessitated due to the demise of Mohammed Taslimuddin.His son Sarfaraz Alam  has retained the seat for RJD. It is indeed a great humiliation for CM Yogi who will complete on year in office on March 19. Five-time MP from Gorakhpur, Yogi had described the by-elections a dress rehearsal for the general election next year. The low voters turn out is said to be the major cause for the stunning defeat of the BJP in both the seat.In Gorakhpur, Pravin Nishad of the SP defeated his nearest rival Upendra Dutt Shukla of the BJP by 21.961 votes. The SP candidate polled 4, 56,437 votes, the BJP got 4, 34,476 while the Congress candidate got 18,844 votes only.In Phulpur, Nagendra Prtap Singh Patel of the SP defeated his nearest BJP rival Kaushelendra Patel by 59,613 votes. The SP polled 3, 42,796 votes, the BJP got 2,83, 183. Independent Atiq Ahmed polled 48,087 votes and Congress candidate Manish Mishra got only 19,334 votes. The voter turnout was 47.45 per cent in Gorakhpur and 37.39 per cent in Phulpur in polling held on March 11.The victory of the SP candidate with the backing of the BSP is likely to cement the alliance for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Dubbed as the arch-rival in the regional political arena, Mayawati and Akhilesh decided to be partners for the by polls to counter the BJP in UP. With the BSP backing its bitter rival SP, the BJP tasted a shock defeat in both the constituencies. Regional arch-rivals SP and the BSP were steamrolled by the BJP in 2017 UP Assembly elections. They teamed up for the first time in 25 years. In 2014, the BJP stunningly won 73 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats while one of its allies secured two seats. The SP won from five seats. The Congress won two seats and BSP drew a blank. Both Gorakhpur and Phulpur were prestige battles for the BJP which has been on a winning spree. The party just won Tripura State elections dislodging the Left Front Government from the state. “This is a rejection of both the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yogi. They have been making tall promises but not delivering on the ground’’, said SP spokesperson Rajendra Chowdhary on Wednesday. The Congress party candidates failed to even save their security deposits.(image courtesy Patrika)