Lucknow: The BJP backed SP rebel candidate Nitin Agarwal was elected deputy speaker of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on Monday, defeating Narendra Verma, the official candidate of Akhilesh Yadav’s party, by 244 votes.
While Agarwal bagged 304 votes, Verma got 60 votes in the polling held inside the assembly premises through ballot paper.
A total of 368 votes were cast, out of which four were declared invalid.
The opposition BSP and Congress MLAs boycotted the election.
Nitin Agarwal, a third-term MLA from Hardoi, is the son of former state minister Naresh Agarwal who had switched over to the BJP from the Samajwadi Party.
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