Phulpur Bypoll: BJP could lead only in one assembly segment

Phulpur: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost bypoll in Phulpur parliamentary constituency comprehensively losing four out of five assembly segments.

Despite its dismal performance, the BJP candidate registered lead of about 15000 votes in one assembly segment of Allahabad West. Incidentally, this assembly segment is represented by Uttar Pradesh Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh.

In other four segments- Phaphamau, Soraon, Phulpur and Allahabad North, the Samajwadi Party had substantial lead to seal the victory.

Samajwadi Party candidate Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel defeated his nearest Bharatiya Janata Party rival Kaushlendra Singh Patel by 59,613 votes, leading to noisy celebrations and calls for opposition unity across the nation to defeat the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha battle.

The results were announced after 31 rounds of counting.

Mafia don-turned-politician Ateeq Ahmad, contesting as an Independent from inside the jail, won 33,818 votes in Phulpur while Manish Mishra (Congress) got 11,934 votes.