UP Bypolls: BJP's Akash Saxena Wins Azam Khan's Bastion Rampur Sadar
BJP's Akash Saxena has won Azam Khan's bastion since 2002, Rampur Sadar, in Uttar Pradesh bypolls.
BJP's Akash Saxena on Thursday won the Rampur Sadar seat in the Uttar Pradesh bypolls. The constituency had been Azam Khan's bastion since 2002.
The constituency saw a poor voter turnout of just 40% on Monday. The Samajwadi Party had alleged that people were not allowed to vote and were thrashed by goons to prevent them from stepping out of their homes
The bypoll was necessitated after Azam Khan's disqualification due to conviction in a 2019 hate-speech case.
The win is a milestone for the BJP as it had never secured Rampur Sadar, which has a significant Muslim population. It would always be Azam Khan or members of his family to win the seat since 2002. Azam Khan won the constituency between 1980 and 1993 from different parties.
Akash Saxena, son of former BJP MLA Shiv Bahadur Saxena, went up against Azam Khan's protege Asim Raja. While Akash Saxena got 80,964 votes in the bypoll, SP candidate Asim Raja got 47,262 votes.
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party also accused the police of harassing and threatening people, preventing its supporters from casting their votes. On Thursday, the party said that the media was not being given counting updates.
The state government has denied all allegations, saying that the SP's claims were baseless.
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