The BJP scored a massive victory in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council polls on Tuesday, 12 April, by winning 33 of the 36 seats, where voting was held through local bodies.
The Samajwadi Party suffered a defeat and was not able to open its account. Three seats were won by Independent candidates.
However, despite having unanimously won 33 of the 36 council seats as it contested unopposed, the BJP lost the key Varanasi seat, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.
A total of 95 candidates were in the fray. For the first time in decades, the party will have a majority in both houses of the UP Assembly.
PM Modi, Adityanath Extend Congratulations
PM Modi extended his congratulations to all the winning candidates, saying that this victory was "once again an expression of the people's faith in BJP's development model."
Earlier, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, had said in a tweet, "Today, BJP's thumping victory in the Local Authority Legislative Council elections of Uttar Pradesh has again made it clear that the people of the state are with nationalism, development and good governance under the able guidance and leadership of the respected Prime Minister."
Adityanath also congratulated the newly-elected MLCs, saying, "Hearty congratulations and best wishes to all the newly elected members of the Upper House of Uttar Pradesh!"
Akhilesh Alleges Rigging of Polls
However, Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of rigging the polls and alleged that the party promotes casteism to retain power, reported PTI.
He said,
"The BJP's arbitrariness and rigging crossed all limits in the Legislative Council polls and history will never forgive it for what it has done to crush democracy."
The SP leader added that the BJP has held power by means of "money and deceit" and said that the party has no faith in the Constitution, democracy and the process of fair elections.
"What kind of 'sabka saath, sabka vikas' is this by bypassing SC/ST and the OBC? Socialists will continue to fight the battle to strengthen social justice through democracy," he said.
Annapurna Singh Wins From Varanasi
Annapurna Singh, an Independent candidate from Varanasi seat and wife of former MLC and jailed mafia don Brijesh Singh, won the election by getting 4,234 votes.
Additional District Magistrate (who is also District Election Officer) Kaushal Raj Sharma said that after counting of votes in the last round in Varanasi, Samajwadi Party candidate Umesh Yadav got 345 votes, BJP candidate Dr Sudama Patel got 170 votes, and Independent candidate Annapurna Singh got 4,234 votes.
BJP Candidates Win in 15 Seats
Mathura-Eta-Mainpuri — BJP’s Om Prakash Singh wins
Lakhimpur Kheri — BJP’s Anoop Gupta wins
Mathura-Eta-Mainpuri — BJP’s Ashish Yadav wins
Hardoi — BJP’s Ashok Agrawal wins
Badaun — BJP’s Vageesh Pathak wins
Banda-Hamirpur — BJP’s Jitendra Singh Sengar wins
Aligarh — BJP’s Rishipal Singh wins
Bulandshahr — BJP’s Narendra Bhati wins
Mirzapur-Sonbhadra — BJP’s Shyam Narayan Singh alias Vineet wins
Gorakhpur-Maharajganj — BJP's C P Chand wins
Lucknow-Unnao — BJP's Ramchandra Pradhan
Bahraich-Shravasti — BJP's Pragya Tripathi wins
Rae Bareli — BJP's Dinesh Pratap Singh
Ballia — BJP's Ravishankar Singh Pappu wins
Barabanki — BJP's Angad Singh wins
Sitapur — BJP's Pawan Kumar Singh wins
Basti — BJP's Subhas Yaduvansh wins
Faizabad-Ambedkarnagar — BJP’s Hari Om Pandey wins
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