7/9, Yogi again proves he’s BJP’s boss in UP

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BJP candidates registered victory in Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Phulpur, Katheri and Majhawan while its ally RLD won Meerapur. The remaining two seats, Karhal and Sishmau, were bagged by the Samajwadi Party (SP). Karhal is a known SP bastion and was vacated by party chief Akhilesh Yadav after his election to the Lok Sabha.

With today's bypoll victories, Yogi, who single-handedly led the election campaign for the saffron party, re-established his primacy in the BJP and the state government. After the poor show in the Lok Sabha elections, he had faced massive headwinds.

The CM primarily banked on “Batenge toh katenge” slogan to consolidate votes in favour of the BJP, even as he continued with “bulldozer justice”.

The BJP and its partners had won six of these nine seats in the 2022 Assembly elections, but lost these to the Samajwadi Party in the 2024 parliamentary polls. A Yogi-led comeback in this SP-dominated belt is, therefore, significant.

The most important among the BJP wins today is Kundarki, an SP stronghold which the saffron party had not won in 32 years. BJP nominee Ramveer Singh defeated SP’s Mohammad Rizwan, who lost his deposit, by 1,44,791 votes.

For CM Yogi personally, winning this poll cycle was crucial as the party had left the entire canvassing strategy to him, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah choosing to sit out.

In the Lok Sabha elections, Yogi had complained of being sidelined in strategy formation and ticket selection as the party had decided to repeat majority of the sitting MPs, who later lost. After the bypoll wins, UP Deputy Chief Minister and Yogi's rival in Uttar Pradesh BJP power struggle, Keshav Prasad Maurya, said, "The Samajwadi Party has now become ‘Samaptwadi Party’."

First win in 32 years

• BJP wins SP bastion Kundarki, a seat the saffron party had failed to conquer for 32 years
• Ramveer Singh defeats SP’s Mohammad Rizwan, who lost his deposit, by 1,44,791 votes

SP winner in 2

BJP wins Kundarki, Ghaziabad, Khair, Phulpur, Katheri and Majhawan, and its ally RLD won Meerapur; Karhal and Sishmau go to Samajwadi Party