BJP destroys two SP fortresses in UP by-elections

Lucknow, Jun 27: Hours after the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in by-polls for the Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituencies, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday (June 26, 2022) said that the by-election results in Uttar Pradesh clearly show that the Samajwadi Party (SP) is incapable of defeating the saffron party. He also blamed SP chief Akhilesh Yadav for the party's defeat in the Rampur and Azamgarh bypolls and said that he has so much arrogance that he did not even visit people.

 

 

 

"The results of Rampur and Azamgarh elections clearly show that the SP has not the ability to defeat the BJP. Muslims should now instead of wasting their valuable votes on such useless parties, should create their own independent political identity and decide their fate themselves," he tweeted in Hindi.

 

 

 

"Akhilesh Yadav has so much arrogance that he did not even visit people. I would appeal to the Muslims of the country to make a political identity of their own," Owaisi told news agency ANI. The BJP on Sunday wrested the Samajwadi Party's bastions of Rampur and Azamgarh Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. In Azamgarh, BJP's Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua' routed SP candidate Dharmendra Yadav, a three-time MP, and cousin of Akhilesh Yadav, by a margin of 8,679 votes, while in Rampur, BJP's Ghanshyam Lodhi defeated SP's Mohd Asim Raja by a comfortable margin of 42,192 votes. Azamgarh and Rampur are high-profile constituencies vacated by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and party stalwart Azam Khan after they were elected to the assembly. In the Azamgarh Lok Sabha constituency, Yadavs constitute 21 percent of the electorate, Muslims 15 percent, Dalits 20 percent and non-Yadav OBC voters are about 18 percent. The SP had swept all the assembly segments in Azamgarh in the recent assembly polls. In Rampur parliamentary constituency, nearly 49 percent of the voters are Muslims. The SP had won three and the BJP two assembly segments. BJP’s vote share in this election has increased by 9%, compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

 

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Unlike Azamgarh, BJP did not win here simply because BSP split the opposition vote, but the BJP actually got more than 50% votes. This means even with the opposition vote fully united against the BJP, BJP won this seat which has over 50% Muslim population. The chief minister said the BJP's "double engine government" -- dispensations of the same party at the Centre and in the state -- has secured "double victory" in the state under the leadership of Modi.