The Samajwadi Party on Tuesday retained the Nidhauli Kalan and Lakhimpur seats for which byelections were held on November 20.
The Congress suffered a humiliating defeat on both the seats and so did the BJP. The Bahujan Samaj Party did not participate in the byelections.
Both the Assembly seats had fallen vacant following the death of SP MLAs.
SP candidate Amit Gaurav Yadav won the Nidhauli Kalan seat with a margin of 23, 479 votes. The SP candidate defeated Virendra Kumar of Jan Kranti Party, led by former BJP leader Kalyan Singh.
Congress candidate Bharat Singh ranked third in the Nidhauli Kalan seat while BJP candidate Rajesh Kumar finished a poor fourth.
Amit Gaurav Yadav is the son of former SP MLA Anil Kumar Singh, whose death had necessitated the byelection on the seat.
The results of the Nidhauli Kalan bypoll are a severe jolt to Mr Kalyan Singh who had left no stone unturned to mark the electoral debut of his Jan Kranti Party. What had further made him confident of victory is the fact that the seat has a dominant Lodh population.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, Samajwadi candidate Utkarsh Varma won the byelection with a margin of over 17,000 votes.
Surprisingly, it was the Peace Party that ranked second in this byelection. The Peace Party is a predominantly Muslim-based party but in Lakhimpur Kheri, it had fielded a brahmin candidate, Shashidhar Misra, who ranked second.
For the Congress, the defeat of its candidate Saif Ali Naqvi is extremely humiliating. Saif Ali Naqvi is the son of Congress MP Zafar Ali Naqvi and a galaxy of Central leaders had campaigned for him. Mr Naqvi’s victory was being seen as a foregone conclusion since his father represents the parliamentary seat and UPA minister Jitin Prasad hold s the neighbouring parliamentary seat.
The Congress defeat in these byelections raises serious questions about the party’s Mission 2012 which is being headed by Mr Rahul Gandhi. The results amply indicate that the party is nowhere on the winning path and the euphoria generated after the Lok Sabha elections are evaporating.
For the BJP, the results are on expected lines. The party did not make an extra effort and the leaders were also reconciled to their fate. The party forfeited its deposit on both the seats.