Kanpur: Tej Pratap Yadav of the Samajwadi Party clinched victory against the BJP candidate in the Karhal Assembly seat of Mainpuri, maintaining the party's fifth consecutive victory in this bastion. The constituency recorded 54.1 percent votes.
Responding to BJP's claims about avenging Ayodhya in Karhal, Mainpuri MP and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav, present at the counting location, told journalists on Saturday that the BJP failed to achieve its objectives in both Karhal and Kanpur.
"Despite deployment of the entire official machinery, this was not possible, and neither could they win Karhal nor Kanpur," she said following the Karhal results.
She alleged that BJP utilised the complete administrative apparatus during these by-elections. When asked about the slogan 'Katoge to Batoge', Dimple stated its irrelevance, focusing instead on youth employment and DAP availability for farmers. Addressing her party's achievement of two seats out of nine, she said they expected five seats, but govt interference prevented this outcome.
Despite challenges, Dimple expressed appreciation for her party workers' dedication during the by-elections. Regarding Karhal's close contest, she pointed to the administrative interference and criticised BJP's approach as unethical. The electoral battle was essentially between relatives, with Tej Pratap Yadav competing against his uncle Anujesh Yadav, the BJP representative.
BSP's Dr Avnish Shakya was another significant contestant. The family connections extended as Anujesh Yadav is Akhilesh Yadav's brother-in-law and belongs to the Saifai family. The 32-round counting process showed SP's lead from the beginning.
The final results showed Tej Pratap Yadav obtaining 104,304 votes, while Anujesh Yadav got 89,579 votes, creating a winning difference of 14,725 votes. BSP performed poorly, with Avinash Kumar Shakya polling only 8,409 votes, failing to save the deposit. The Azad Samaj Party (Kanshiram) got 2,499 votes in this five-candidate election.
The by-election for this seat was necessitated after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was elected to the Lok Sabha in general elections held earlier this year.
Strongly criticising the BJP, Tej Pratap Yadav, nephew of Akhilesh Yadav and son-in-law of RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav, accused the ruling party of suppression of voters during the by-election. He said, "During the by-election, people were prevented from voting.
Their (BJP's) slogans didn't work, only batons were used."
He further alleged that the BJP government's oppressive tactics to prevent voting ultimately failed to deter people from exercising their democratic right.He showed video evidence of police entering villages and using force on voters. He said, "On the day of the by-election, BJP murdered democracy, its leaders openly looted booths, and no action was taken against them." He also highlighted the incidents where SP supporters were allegedly prevented from voting through force, despite which the party maintained public support.
Talking about the BJP's candidate selection in Karhal, Tej Pratap Yadav dismissed the significance of BJP fielding Anujesh Pratap Singh. "BJP was in front, no matter who the candidate was", he said.
SP's victory in Karhal served as a direct response to BJP's challenge regarding their Ayodhya defeat. BJP challenged that they would avenge the loss of Ayodhya. By ensuring SP's victory in Karhal, the people here gave a fitting response to the BJP, Tej Pratap added.