In another setback for the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP succeeded in snatching the Swar Tanda (Rampur) and Farrukhabad seats from it in the bypolls held on August 31. However, former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav managed to reassert his influence in Gunnaur, from where he was elected the last time.

Nawab Kazim Ali of the BSP won from Swar Tanda, defeating his nearest rival BJP’s Shiv Bahadur Saxena by a margin of 49,259 votes. In Farrukhabad, state Health Minister Anant Kumar Mishra defeated his nearest rival Vijay Singh of the Congress by 15,550 votes.

However, in Gunnaur, the seat which fell vacant following the resignation of Mulayam Singh Yadav who chose to retain his Bharthana seat, the SP emerged victorious. SP’s Pradeep Kumar Yadav defeated BSP candidate Deepak Yadav by 13,670 votes.

All three seats had been won by the SP in the Assembly elections earlier this year. However, Nawab Kazim Ali and Vijay Singh, who were elected from Swar Tanda and Farrukhabad respectively, resigned from the SP and the membership of the Vidhan Sabha and joined the ruling BSP. But while Mayawati nominated Ali as the BSP candidate from Swar Tanda, Vijay Singh was suspended from the party for his alleged involvement in the murder of BJP leader Bruhmdutt Dwivedi.

Later, Vijay Singh got a ticket from the Congress, only to be defeated by the BSP candidate.

In Gunnaur, where the prestige of former CM and SP President Mulayam Singh Yadav was at stake, his party’s Pradeep Yadav got 65,232 votes and won. Deepak Yadav of the BSP received 51,562 votes. Interestingly, D P Yadav’s brother Dhramveer Yadav managed to corner 13,670 votes from the same seat.

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