SP wins one seat, leading in eight others in UP, BJP in two

LUCKNOW: Ruling Samajwadi Party today won the Thakurdwara Assembly seat and was leading in eight others, while the BJP was ahead in two seats in Uttar Pradesh where bypolls were held for 11 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat.

SP supremo Mulayam Singh's grand nephew Tej Pratap was leading over his nearest rival BJP's Prem Singh Shakya in Mainpuri Lok Sabha.

SP's Nawabjan won the Thakurdwara Assembly seat in Moradabad district by defeating BJP's Rajpal Singh by a margin of 27,023 votes.

In Lucknow, former BJP MP Lalji Tandon's son Ashutosh Tandon is leading.

The Assembly seats where bypolls were held include Saharanpur city, Bijnor, Thakurdwara, Noida, Nighasan Lucknow east, Hamirpur, Charkhari, Sirathu, Balha and Rohania, as also in Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat which was vacated by SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav.

While BSP did not contest the bypoll, Congress and SP fielded candidates on all 11 Assembly seats, whereas BJP contested on 10 and its ally Apna Dal on one.

Stakes are high for BJP, Congress, Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh after the saffron party's near-total sweep of the 80 seats in Lok Sabha polls just four months.