BJP Loses UP, Bihar Bypolls, Yogi Adityanath Blames 'Overconfidence': 10 Points

For Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats,Samajwadi Party and BSP have teamed up. In Bihar, the RJD is fighting to retain the Araria Lok Sabha seat.

All India | Reported by Manish Kumar, Edited by Aloke Tikku | Updated: March 14, 2018 17:57 IST

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BJP Loses UP, Bihar Bypolls, Yogi Adityanath Blames 'Overconfidence': 10 Points

By-election results: Gorakhpur is the seat that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held for five terms

New Delhi: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday evening that the BJP, which has lost key by-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, two parliament seats it held, "failed to understand the significance" of a partnership scripted by the Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. It was "overconfidence," the Chief Minister said, also stating that his party will study why it lost and prepare a new strategy. It is a massive setback; the two seats the BJP lost today were vacated By Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Maurya last year. In by-elections in Bihar's Araria parliament seat, the BJP is trailing Lalu Yadav's RJD, which held the seat.

Here is your 10-point cheatsheet to the Uttar Pradesh and Bihar bypoll results:

The results are seen as a reverse for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who held the Gorakhpur seat for five terms. He vacated it last year after becoming Chief Minister, following the BJP's sweep of the 2017 assembly elections. This time, he led the party campaign, leading multiple rallies and roadshows and predicted a BJP victory, saying its margin will be "as big as in 2014".
As the Samajwadi lead in Uttar Pradesh became clear, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said, "The BSP has successfully been able to transfer its votes for the SP. That is why SP is leading. But we will still wait for the final results. We will then study it."
In Bihar's Araria parliamentary seat, RJD candidate Sarfaraz Alam, son of regional strongmen Mohammad Taslimuddin, is ahead by over 43,000 votes in Araria. Taslimuddin, the sitting legislator, died last year.
RJD candidate Kumar Krishna Mohan Yadav has won the Jahanabad assembly seat, while the BJP's Rinki Rani Pandey won in Bhabua.
In Gorakhpur, District Magistrate Rajeev Rautela barred the media from entering the area where votes are being counted, triggering a political controversy. The unusual ban was lifted after vociferous protests by opposition lawmakers in Parliament and the state assembly. "The Election Commission says the media is not allowed where EVMs are in circulation," Mr Rautela told reporters.
The trends in Uttar Pradesh signals the success of a rare deal between regional heavyweights and arch-rivals Samajwadi Party and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party, that was being seen as a test case for a broader opposition unity in next year's general elections.
The two parties had pooled resources, with Samajwadi Party fielding candidates and the BSP offering support. Mayawati, a Dalit powerhouse in the state, has not committed to a bigger partnership, waiting to see how the experiment works. The deal included SP support for the BSP in Rajya Sabha elections in UP later this month.
Asked if by-election results would translate into an alliance in 2019, Akhilesh Yadav's key aide Ram Gopal Yadav said, "Wait and watch". SP lawmaker Dharmendra Yadav, a relative of Akhilesh Yadav, said, "We hope this alliance will continue in 2019 and I will request the leadership to continue this alliance".
The Bihar by-elections are seen as a referendum on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision last July to dump Lalu Yadav and the Congress to partner with the BJP. The RJD has accused Mr Kumar of backstabbing voters who chose the Grand Alliance of the RJD, Nitish Kumar's JD(U) and the Congress in 2015. Nitish Kumar defended his decision stating that he allied with the BJP in the interest of the state.
With Lalu Yadav in jail in a corruption case, his son Tejashwi Yadav fronted the RJD's campaign in Bihar and these by-elections are also seen to test his leadership.

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