BJP has retained the Sikandra assembly seat in Kanpur dehat district where its candidate Ajit Pal defeated his nearest Samajwadi party rival Seema Sachan by 11,861 votes. The BJP however suffered set back as during the March 2017 state assembly elections the ruling party had won this seat by a margin of over 32,000 votes. In March elections the BJP candidate had polled 87,879 votes which plummeted to 73,284 votes in by elections.
The polling held on December 21 witnessed around 53 per cent voter turnout of the total 3.21 lakh voters. The seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MLA Mathura Prasad Pal. BJP had fielded Mathura Prasad Pal’s son Ajit Pal from the seat. He was pitted against Samajwadi Party’s Seema Sachan, who was supported by some smaller parties. Congress had fielded Prabhakar Pandey, who contested the last assembly polls on NISHAD Party ticket. BSP did not contest the by polls.
While the BJP candidate polled 73, 284 votes, SP candidate polled 61,423 votes and the Congress received 19,084 votes in a triangular contest. Among the total 11 candidates in the fray an independent Brajendra alias Bauwa Trivedi received 3,613 votes. During the assembly elections in March this year the then BJP candidate Mathura Prasad Pal had polled over 87,000 votes. The BJP votes were reduced by nearly 14,000 votes to 73,284 votes.
The defeated SP and the Congress candidates alleging tampering in the electronic voting machines staged demonstration at the counting center. They also ghearoed the vehicle of the poll observer and demanded recounting of votes. They later staged demonstration at the counting center, set up in Akbarpur, the district headquarter of Kanpur dehat district.
Rakesh Sachan, the former Samajwadi party MP from Fatehpur, the husband of the SP candidate Seema Sachan had heated exchange with the district officials alleging rigging in the elections and tampering of the EVMs. The SP candidate was confident of her victory as she led in first few rounds of counting. Later the BJP candidate established lead over the nearest rival and was declared elected after the completion of counting in 20 rounds.