Bad news for Saffron BJP: RLD candidate ahead by 16,000 votes in Kairana
NEW DELHI : In what could prove to be a major setback to Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, the ruling party’s candidate Mriganka Singh is trailing by a huge number of votes in the Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll 2018. Rashtriya Lok Dal’s (RLD) Tabassum Hasan has managed to maintain her lead after many rounds of counting. The counting for Kairana bye-election is underway.
The Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party, and Nishad Party had extended their support to Tabassum Hasan in the Kairana election held on May 28. The Kairana bypoll was necessitated following the death of Bharatiya Janata Party MP Hukum Singh. The BJP had nominated Hukum Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh as the candidate.
The saffron BJP is trailing in three out of four Lok Sabha seats — UP’s Kairana and Maharashtra’s Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya constituencies. RLD-SP candidate Tabassum Hasan has widened her lead over BJP’s Mriganka Singh in the prestigious Kairana by-election and is ahead by over 16,000 votes.
The the opposition-backed candidate in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, where the parliamentary by-poll is a setting for a massive prestige battle in an election year leading up to the 2019 national polls.
The BJP is also trailing to the Samajwadi Party in the Noorpur Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh. RJD’s Shahnawaz is leading in Bihar’s Jokihat Assembly seat and CPM’s Saji Cheriyan is leading in Kerala’s Chengannur Assembly seat.
The by-poll has been widely pitched as another test of opposition unity against the BJP after the Samajwadi Party and BSP pooled their resources to defeat the ruling party in its strongholds Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March. The opposition hopes to evolve a successful template for joining forces to take on the BJP in state elections later this year and the 2019 national polls.
In the Noorpur Assembly seat, which was also left vacant after the death of a BJP legislator in a road accident, the Samajwadi Party is ahead. Voting in both Kairana and Noorpur was hit by complaints of snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs or Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines that produces slips to confirm to the voter that his choice has been recorded correctly. (With Agency Inputs ).
