UP bypolls: BJP and ally Apna Dal improve lead; ahead in 8 seats

The ruling BJP and ally Apna Dal (S) improved their leads and are ahead in eight places as counting progressed in 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday. The BJP is now leading in seven seats and ally Apna Dal (S) in one. The Samajwadi Party is ahead in two, while the Bahujan Samaj Party is leading in the remaining seat.

Bypolls trends

The Congress, which was initially ahead in Gangoh constituency, was overtaken by the ruling saffron party in later rounds of counting. The BJP is also leading in Manikpur, Ghosi, Iglas, Lucknow Cantt, Govindnagar and Balha, while ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) is ahead in Pratapgarh.

The SP is ahead in Rampur and Zaidpur, while the BSP is ahead in Jalalpur. Of the 11 seats of the state where bypolls were held on Monday, eight were held by the BJP and one by ally Apna Dal (Sonelal). Two other seats were shared by the Samajwadi Party and the BSP.

Uttar Pradesh bypolls

The bypolls were mostly necessitated after sitting legislators got elected to the Lok Sabha in May. The Ghosi seat fell vacant following the resignation of sitting MLA Phagu Chauhan after he was appointed as Bihar governor. The BJP currently has 302 members in the 403-member assembly, NDA ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) has eight MLAs, the SP has 47, the BSP has 18, while the Congress has seven. The 11 seats up for byelections include Pratapgarh, Lucknow Cantt, Rampur, Gangoh, Govindpur, Jalalpur, Zaidpur, Iglas, Manikpur, Ghosi, and Balham. BSP is set to contest on all seats independently after Mayawati broke the Gathbandhan in May. Meanwhile, BJP and Samajwadi Party have asked their respective alliance partners to field the candidates in some constituencies. Congress, on the other hand, is eyeing a comeback, cashing in on the SP-BJP major tussle ahead of state assembly polls in 2022.