BJP's Suresh Rana, Sangeet Som trailing in western Uttar Pradesh

BJP's Suresh Rana, who served as a minister in the Yogi Adityanath-government, and controversial MLA Sangeet Som were trailing from their respective assembly seats in western Uttar Pradesh, according to poll trends. Rana is contesting from Thana Bhawan in Shamli district where he was trailing Rashtriya Lok Dal's Ashraf Ali Khan. Khan got 79,964 votes while Rana polled 67,473 votes till 5 pm, the Election Commission website showed.

In Meerut's Sardhana constituency, Som bagged 99,887 votes while Samajwadi Party's Atul Pradhan got 1.18 lakh votes till 5 pm, it showed.

Som was an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots case and has been known for making communally charged statements.

Final results of the election are yet to be announced.

Both Rana and Som had won by over 90,000 votes in the 2017 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls to register victories, as the BJP had swept the state winning over 300 seats.

Shamli and Meerut districts are part of western Uttar Pradesh where the anti-farm laws protests were believed to have stirred up anti-BJP sentiments.