The bypolls, termed by Adityanath a “rehearsal” for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saw a contest between 10 candidates in Gorakhpur and 22 in Phulpur.
Lucknow: Counting of votes for the Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary bypolls began Wednesday morning amid tight security arrangements.
The results are expected to be declared by afternoon, an Election Commission (EC) official said.
The polls were necessitated by the vacation of the seats by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath of the BJP, elected MP from Gorakhpur five times, and one of his deputies, Keshav Prasad Maurya, voted to office from Phulpur in 2014 as the Modi wave swept the state.
The bypolls, termed by Adityanath a “rehearsal” for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saw a contest between 10 candidates in Gorakhpur and 22 in Phulpur. They brought together arch rivals BSP and SP for an alliance against the BJP.
The BJP had fielded Kaushalendra Singh Patel from Phulpur and Upendra Dutt Shukla from Gorakhpur. The SP, with the BSP’s support, fielded Pravin Nishad from Gorakhpur and Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel from Phulpur. The Congress nominated Sureetha Kareem for Gorakhpur and Manish Mishra for Phulpur.
Gorakhpur has been a BJP bastion: Prior to Adityanath’s five wins from here, voters here elected his mentor, Yogi Avaidyanath, also representing BJP, four times.
Phulpur was once represented by first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and was represented by the BSP and twice by the SP for the three terms preceding the 16th Lok Sabha.
Bihar bypoll result due too
The UP bypolls were held along with those for Bihar’s Araria Lok Sabha seat and Bhabua and Jehanabad assembly constituencies.
Araria is primarily a contest between the state’s governing JD(U)-BJP coalition and the RJD. The seat has been vacant since the death of senior RJD leader Mohd Taslimuddin in September last year.
With inputs from PTI
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