LUCKNOW: Candidates of the Samajwadi Party consolidated their leads over nearest BJP rivals in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, latest trends showed.
The Samajwadi Party had an electoral understanding with Mayawati’s BSP and tied up with local satraps. Its candidate Pravin Nishad was leading over Upendra Dutt Shukla of BJP by 26,510 votes in Gorakhpur at the end of 17th round of counting.
In Phulpur too, SP candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel was leading by 29,474 votes after 20th round of counting.
With some more rounds of counting still being left, the overall picture appeared that the electorate did not back the saffron party ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
The bypolls were necessitated after Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively, following their election to the state legislative council. (agencies)
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