UP bypolls, BJP wins both LS seats,Setback for Akhilesh Yadav

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday grabbed two keys seats from the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the by-elections held in Azamgarh and Rampur. In Azamgarh, an SP bastion, BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav 'Nirahua' won against his nearest rival, Dharmendra Yadav of the Akhilesh Yadav-led party. BJP candidate Ghanshyam Lodhi wrested the Rampur seat from SP by a margin of over 40,000 votes. chief minister Yogi Adityanath shared a tweet calling the polls outcome a “historic win”. BJP  president J P Nadda on Sunday said it reflects people's faith in public welfare policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The BJP's victory in Rampur and Azamgarh, considered difficult seats for the party, is significant as these were earlier held by Samajwadi Party stalwart Azam Khan and its president Akhilesh Yadav, both of whom resigned after being elected to the state assembly.Nadda also congratulated Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha for his win in the assembly bypoll and also that of two other party candidates. The by-election to the Azamgarh seat was necessitated due to the resignation of the Samajwadi Party chief, who was elected to the Assembly in the election held earlier this year. The four assembly constituencies – Azamgarh, Mubarakpur, Sagdi, Gopalpur and Mehnagar – falling under this Lok Sabha seat were won by the SP in the recent Assembly elections.