After win, SP’s Nagendra Patel says voters cannot be fooled
ALLAHABAD: The Samajwadi Party (SP), which wrested the Phulpur Lok Sabha seat from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), established a lead from the first round of counting itself on Wednesday morning.
By the time the final round was over, the winning margin swelled to a comfortable 59,613 votes, district election authorities said.
The Samajwadi Party’s Nagendra Singh Patel secured 3,42,796 votes while BJP’s Kaushlendra Singh Patel polled 2,83,183 votes for the second spot.
Independent candidate Atiq Ahmed polled 48,087 votes for the third spot. The Congress’s Manish Mishra was a distant fourth with count of 19,334 votes in the bypolls, said district election officer Suhas LY.
Afer winning the bypoll, Nagendra Singh Patel said the voters could be befooled once but not every time.
“The electorate has recognised the works done by the Samajwadi Party government led by party supremo Akhilesh Yadav. ‘Har baar jumlebazi se vote nahi milta. Kaam karna padhta hai. Janta sab dekhti hai’ (Every time, votes cannot be gained through fake promises. Work has to be done as the public sees everything). I will do my best in whatever time I have as the MP from the constituency. The results will have a role to play in 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” he said.
Cabinet minister and UP government spokesperson Sidharth Nath Singh conceded that the results had not gone as per party expectations and that they would be analysed in depth.
“However, we will strengthen our organisation and come up with a plan to deal with this SP-BSP combine factor, which came as a surprise after being announced at the last moment,” he said.
Records revealed that out of a total of 19,63,543 voters in Phulpur constituency comprising five assembly segments, 7,29,126 voters (37.13%) had cast their votes on Sunday.
The SP secured 3,42,796 (47.01%) votes to win the bypolls. It was after 14 years that SP reclaimed the seat. Atiq Ahmad had won the seat in 2004 as an SP candidate.
The constituency was represented earlier by former Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru and Vishwanath Pratap Singh as well as Vijay Lakshmi Pandit.
Earlier, as the counting of votes commenced at 8am, BJP and SP supporters assembled in large numbers outside the venue, which was heavily guarded by a battalion of CRPF personnel.
THE SP SECURED 3,42,796 (47.01%) VOTES TO WIN THE BYPOLLS. IT WAS AFTER 14 YEARS THAT SP RECLAIMED THE SEAT. ATIQ AHMAD HAD WON THE SEAT IN 2004 AS AN SP CANDIDATE.