Riding a BJP wave in Uttar Pradesh, its candidate Shashank Verma is leading in the Nighasan assembly seat in Lakhimpur Kheri district that made headlines after local BJP MP and union minister Ajay Mishra's son allegedly mowed down protesters killing 8, including 4 farmers. The farmers were protesting against the three controversial farm laws that were eventually taken back by the government. All opposition parties had raised the issue throughout this election, hoping to pin down the ruling party for being "anti-farmer".
Shashank Verma, who is the sitting MLA from the seat, is leading by almost 40,000 votes against Samajwadi Party's R S Kushwaha.
The BJP is, as of 3:40 pm, leading in all the eight Assembly seats in the Lakhimpur Kheri district with the Samajwadi Party appearing in contention only in Kasta, where the margin was less than 2,000 votes. BJP candidates had won all the eight seats in the district in the last assembly elections but the opposition was hoping to make a dent this time following the huge uproar involving the BJP Minister's son.
The Election Commission website has Shashank Verma at 1,10,820 votes and the Samajwadi opponent at 71,707.
The minister's son Ashish Mishra's alleged role in the killing of farmers protesting at Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 had snowballed into a huge controversy in election season. He is accused of driving the Mahindra Thar SUV that ran over four farmers and a journalist at Lakhimpur Kheri during a protest march against three controversial farm laws. He was arrested days later and was granted bail by the state high court last month.
Ajay Mishra, though a central minister, was not part of the BJP's star campaigner list in Uttar Pradesh and was less visible in the party's public reach-out programmes in Lakhimpur Kheri, his native district. Amid continued attacks on the BJP over the October violence, Mishra had even skipped rallies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the district.
The BJP has defied the state's 25-year old trend of no party returning to party two times in a row and is racing towards a spectacular victory. The ruling party could cross 270 out of the total 403 seats in the state. With leads in 131 seats right now, Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, though up from last time, is lagging far behind its rival.
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