UP Legislative Council polls: BJP headed for big win; loses Varanasi to independent

The ruling BJP is headed for a big win in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council polls bagging Barabanki and Ayodhya and leading in most of the 27 seats, but lost Varanasi to an Independent candidate by a big margin.

In Modi’s Lok Sabha constituency, BJP’s Sudama Patel stood at a distant third with just 170 votes as Independent candidate Annapurna Singh secured a resounding victory with 4,234 votes, followed by Samajwadi Party’s Umesh Yadav, who received 345 votes, Varanasi District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said.

The saffron party’s nominees are ahead at many other places.

Results pouring in from districts said BJP’s Ravishankar Singh Pappu, grandson of former Prime Minister Chandrasekhar, won from Ballia seat, defeating SP’s Arvind Giri by 1,981 votes.

In Barabanki, BJP’s Angad Singh trounced Rajesh Kumar Yadav of the SP by 1,745 votes.

In Sitapur, the saffron party’s Pawan Kumar Singh defeated Arunesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP) by 3,692 votes while in Basti, while another BJP leader Subhas Yaduvansh defeated SP’s Santosh Yadav by 4,294 votes.

In Ayodhya, BJP’s Hari Om Pandey defeated Heeralal Yadav of the SP by 1,680 votes on the Faizabad-Ambedkarnagar seat.

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Reports coming in from various districts indicate that the BJP is leading in Moradabad-Bijnor, Lucknow-Unnao and Rae Bareli among others, where counting is underway.

A report from Gorakhpur-Maharajganj seat said BJP’s C P Chand secured 4,839 votes while Rajnish Yadav of the SP got 407. The result has not been declared yet.