A win in Rampur is a big victory for the BJP, which has a sizeable Muslim population
In a huge upset, the Bharatiya Janata Party has won in Uttar Pradesh's Rampur Assembly constituency, stronghold of Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan and his family, where the Akhilesh Yadav-led party had alleged that people were not allowed to vote and were beaten with sticks so that they would not come out on Monday. The constituency had recorded dismal voter turnout, with less than 40 per cent of eligible voters turning up at the polling stations.
By-election in Rampur Sadar was necessitated due to the disqualification of SP MLA and party strongman Azam Khan following his conviction in a 2019 hate speech case.
The win in Rampur is a big victory for the BJP, which has a sizeable Muslim population. The BJP had never won the seat, while Azam Khan and his family members have won it continuously since 2002. Azam Khan himself won the seat between 1980 and 1993 on tickets by different parties.
Azam Khan's family members had alleged that police threatened, harassed and stopped people from voting.
Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party have accused the police of preventing its supporters from voting.
Samajwadi Party legislators had on Tuesday disrupted proceedings at the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, alleging the "murder of democracy" at the bypolls in Rampur Sadar.
"Democracy was put to shame", a party legislator said.
The state government denied the charges.
"Their (SP members) job is just to shout. There is rule of law in the state," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna had said.
In the Rampur Sadar assembly segment, the BJP fielded Akash Saxena, the son of former party legislator Shiv Bahadur Saxena, against Azam Khan's protege Asim Raja.
Mr Saxena won with close to 62 per cent of the votes, while Mr Raja came second with 36.16 vote share.