UP polls: BJP wins 6 seats, leads on 2 in Lakhimpur Kheri
The BJP has won 6 seats--Lakhimpur, Palia, Gola Gokarnath, Mohammadi and Kasta and is leading on 2 seats--Sri Nagar and Dhaurahra--in Lakhimpur Kheri of Uttar Pradesh.
In a surprising twist, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won six assembly constituencies-- Lakhimpur Sadar, Palia, Nighasan, Gola Gokarnath, Kasta and Mohammadi--in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri, which earned national attention after eight people including four farmers were killed in violence that erupted in the district in October last year.
The party is, however, leading on rest of the two seats--Sri Nagar and Dhaurahra-- as well.
Union Minister Ajay Misra's son Ashish Misra was one of the key accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence. Ashish Misra was accused of mowing down protestors, particularly farmers, who were protesting against the now-scrapped farm laws in the Tikunia area of the district. He was subsequently arrested but got bail last month.
The Lakhimpur Kheri became a flashpoint in the run-up to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly election with opposition parties encashing in by pitting the ruling BJP as 'anti-farmer' and demanding Ashish Misra's resignation from the Union Cabinet.
BJP candidate from Nighasan Shashank Verma, won the seat by more than 40,000 votes. Verma polled over 1,12,364 votes against 94,760 votes for his nearest rival RS Khuswaha of the Samajwadi Party (SP), data from the Election Commission (EC) showed.
In Lakhimpur, BJP's Yogesh Varma attained 1,16,595 votes against 97,827 votes of SP candidate Utkarsh Verma Madhur. In Kasta, Saurabh Singh of BJP emerged victorious by polling 1,03,093 votes over SP's Suneel Kumar Lala, who managed 88,929 votes, as per the EC data.
BJP candidate from Palia Harvinder Kumar Sahni got 1,18,706 votes while SP's Pritinder Singh Kakku attained 80,370 votes. In Gola Gokrannath, BJP candidate Arvind Giri attained 1,26,250 votes while his SP rival Vinay Tiwari garnered 96,548 votes. BJP's Manju Tyagi got 1,08,249 votes against 90,641 votes of Ram Sharan in Sri Nagar.
Similarly, at Dhaurahra constituency, Vinod Shankar of BJP achieved 1,13,498 votes while his SP rival Varun Singh got 88,888 votes. In Mohammdi, BJP candidate Lokendra Pratap Singh attained 99,377 votes and SP's Daud Ahmad finished second with 94,506 votes.
Lakhimpur Kheri had been one of the key attack points of the Opposition parties such as the SP, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party against the BJP during campaigning for the state Assembly polls.
Ajay Misra's name was not mentioned in the BJP's star campaigner list in Uttar Pradesh. He was less visible in the party's campaigning programmes in Lakhimpuri Kheri. The Union Minister had also skipped rallies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the district.
(With inputs from PTI)