The BJP maintained its winning streak in the by-elections as well. On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party snatched two Lok Sabha seats from the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. In Tripura, on the other hand, the ruling BJP has won three of the four seats. Though the Aam Aadmi Party won an assembly seat in Delhi, the ruling party lost in the Lok Sabha seat of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The BJP leadership was relieved by the success amid protests over the Agnipath project.
On Sunday, results of by-elections were out in three Lok Sabha constituencies and seven Assembly constituencies across the country. All eyes were on the Azamgarh and Rampur constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav from Azamgarh and SP’s Azam Khan from Rampur won. Both of them resigned from the Lok Sabha constituency after winning the state assembly elections. In the politics of Uttar Pradesh, those two areas are considered as special areas of the two leaders. But the BJP’s victory in both the constituencies has made it clear that the SP’s Muslim-Yadav vote bank is under the control of Yogi Adityanath.
Especially in Azamgarh, Akhilesh Yadav made his cousin Dharmendra Yadav, a former MP, a candidate in the election. But he could not get special benefits. BJP candidate Dinesh Lal Yadav confirmed his victory by breaking into SP’s Yadav vote bank. Though there was a fierce battle between the two opponents at Azamgarh, BJP’s Ghanshyam Lodhi defeated Azam Khan’s close Asim Raja by 40,000 votes in Rampur constituency.
While it has become clear that public support has begun to wane, Azam Khan has blamed the Uttar Pradesh police administration for the defeat at home constituency. He claimed that the Yogi administration was determined to defeat him. Azam claimed, “So the Yogi administration used the police to prevent people from voting against the BJP. Voters were beaten. As a result, a large number of people could not vote.” However, according to many in politics, Azam Khan, accused of various charges, did not go to war to escape the wrath of the BJP. As a result, the BJP candidate got a walkover.
BJP’s reaction
The BJP sees the victory in Uttar Pradesh significant in the wake of the controversy over the Centre’s announcement of the Agnipath Yojana. Because the youths in different cities of Uttar Pradesh took to the streets against the scheme. Apart from Agnipath, the party is relieved at the way people have voted for the BJP in the midst of unemployment, rising commodity prices and the state of the economy. Especially after two years, there is Lok Sabha election. This victory has revived the BJP leadership. That victory in Uttar Pradesh has also given relief to the Prime Minister. He wrote on Twitter, “Winning in Azamgarh and Rampur constituencies is historic. That victory has proved the acceptance and support of the people of Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre’s double engine government. Thank you for that support.”