Lucknow: Keshav Maurya, Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, lost today from Sirathu amid the huge BJP win in the state. Pallavi Patel -- the Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader who contested under the Samajwadi Party banner -- won with a margin of 6,832 votes.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's deputy had launched a high voltage campaign and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi had campaigned for him. Besides PM Modi, Union ministers Amit Shah and Nitin Gadkari, BJP chief JP Nadda, and most importantly Pallavi Patel's sister Anupriya Patel campaigned on his behalf.
Anupriya Patel heads Apna Dal (Sonelal), which has been partnering the BJP for years. The Kamerawadi section had an alliance with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which had spun a seamless net with smaller OBC-based parties across the key regions of the state.
The Apna Dal's support base stretches across the Varanasi-Mirzapur region, Bundelkhand and in the districts of central Uttar Pradesh.
Sirathu, located in in Kaushambi district of eastern Uttar Pradesh, has a huge section of Apna Dal supporters.
The Samajwadi Party, however, trailed the BJP today, with leads and victory on 124 seats to the BJP's 274. Though they fell far short of majority, the Samajwadi Party ended up with 72 seats more than 2017.
The result pushed it back into the political centrestage in Uttar Pradesh and established it as the main opposition to the BJP.
The Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Party have been completely washed out, with the first ending up with only two seats and the second by a single seat.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hailed the results in Uttar Pradesh, saying "The 2024 general election result can be glimpsed in the result of the 2022 UP election".
Later in the evening, he tweeted, "The people of UP, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur have showered @BJP4India will great affection. My gratitude to the people of these states. Our Party cherishes these blessings and will keep working for the development of these states".