Lucknow, April 16
With all five seats of the bypolls held on April 12 comfortably in the BSP kitty, Chief Minister Mayawati today declared it to be the victory of her government’s policies as well as an indication of things to come during the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Not sparing the Congress for losing its deposit in four of the five seats, the BSP supremo was quick to comment that the results had exposed the Congress party’s newfound love for the Dalits.
The BSP won both the Lok Sabha and three Assembly seats, conceding nothing to the opposition. In fact not just the Congress, but also the BJP lost its deposit in four of the five seats and in one (Muradnagar) even Samjawadi could not save its deposit.
Mocking at Mulayam Singh Yadav, her main contender in the state, Mayawati said he had visited each constituency several times along with film actors. “Lekin koi kalakari kaam nahin aayi” (But none of the artistry worked), she quipped.
In Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat Akbar Ahmad ‘Dumpy’ won, defeating his nearest rival BJP’s Ramakant Yadav by a margin of 54,251. The SP came third.
In Khalilabad, BSP candidate Bhismshankar alias Kushal Tiwari won the Lok Sabha seat by a margin of over 64,000 votes, trouncing his nearest SP rival Bhalchandra Yadav. The remaining 18 candidates lost their deposits.
BSP’s winning spree continued in all the three Assembly constituencies. Bilgram in Hardoi returned Rajni Tiwari by a margin of 38,168 votes over her nearest SP rival Vishram Singh Yadav.
In Karnailganj of Gonda district, Kunwari Brij Singh defeated her nearest SP rival Yogesh Pratap Singh by a margin of over 9,000 votes.
In Muradnagar, however, the fight turned out to be between the BSP and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal. BSP’s Rajpal Tyagi won by a comfortable margin of over 6,000 votes, defeating the RLD’s Ayub Khan.
