Mau (UP), Sep 8 (UNI) Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate Sudhakar Singh on Friday defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee and former minister Dara Singh Chauhan by a margin of 42,759 votes in by-election for Ghosi assembly seat in Mau district of Uttar Pradesh, official sources said here.
While 1,24,427 votes were polled in the favour of former MLA Sudhakar Singh after 33 rounds of counting, BJP candidate Dara Singh Chauhan received 81,668 votes. It may be noted that total 50.77 percent out of 4.30 lakh votes were polled during the polling held on September 5.
Sources said that while Sudhakar Singh received 57.19 percent votes, 37.54 percent were polled in the favour of BJP candidate. The SP candidate maintained a lead over his nearest rival since the counting began at 8 am.
It may be mentioned in 2022 assembly elections Dara Singh Chauhan won from Ghosi seat as SP candidate by defeating BJP nominee Vijay Rajbhar. This time the tables turned as Dara Singh resigned from the membership of the UP assembly and SP and joined BJP after which he was declared as party candidate in the by-election to Ghosi seat.
The by-election for the Ghosi seat had turned into a matter of prestige between the ruling BJP and the main opposition party SP. In a bid to snatch the seat from SP, several ministers in the UP government and MLAs camped in Ghosi to ensure Dara Singh victory.
Besides BJP leaders, allies of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in UP, including Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) president Om Prakash Rajbhar and Nishad party chief and Cabinet Minister Sanjay Nishad campaigned in support of the BJP nominee.
On the other hand to ensure victory of SP candidate senior leaders including Ram Gopal Yadav and Shivpal Singh Yadav too camped in the assembly segment. Even SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, who generally do not campaign in by-polls, addressed a rally in support of Sudhakar Singh.
The by-poll to Ghosi assembly seat was also a litmus test for the newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A). Congress along with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), SP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and left parties extended support to the SP candidate and campaigned extensively.
