UP Election: Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya lost in Sirathu by around 7,000 votes. (File)
After the BJP's massive win in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath is set for a record second term as Chief Minister. But there is a big question mark on his deputy.
In one of the biggest upsets in an otherwise spectacular show, the party's number two in Uttar Pradesh, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, lost the election.
He lost in Sirathu by around 7,000 votes, to Samajwadi Party ally Pallavi Patel of the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi).
Mr Maurya's high-voltage election campaign had starred Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, BJP chief JP Nadda, and even Pallavi Patel's sister Anupriya Patel, who is a BJP ally.
As votes were being counted yesterday and initial rounds showed him in the lead, Mr Maurya had tweeted: "Public is winning, hooliganism is losing."
Besides Keshav Maurya, 10 more ministers in the current state government lost the election.
Yogi Adityanath's second deputy, Dinesh Sharma, did not contest the election.
Keshav Maurya can still take the legislative council route, say sources, but the party has yet to clarify on whether he will stay Deputy Chief Minister, or another leader will replace him.
Yogi Adityanath was a member of the legislative council until he contested his first assembly election this time and won from the Gorakhpur Urban constituency.
The BJP became the first party to win a second consecutive term in over three decades, with 255 seats in the 403-member UP assembly.
Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and its allies won over 135 seats.