In a significant blow to the Samajwadi Party, the ruling BJP-ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) won the Suar assembly by-election in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh by a margin of 8,724 votes. The Akhilesh Yadav-led party’s stronghold in Rampur was breached by Apna Dal (Sonelal) as Shafeek Ahmed Ansari secured over 50% of the total votes polled. The runner-up, Anuradha Chauhan of the SP, received 59,906 votes while Ansari got 68,630 votes. The Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress did not field any candidates in this by-poll.
The Suar assembly seat fell vacant after the disqualification of Abdullah Azam Khan, son of SP leader Azam Khan, who was sentenced to two years in jail in a 15-year-old case. In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Abdullah Azam Khan had defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)’s Haidar Ali Khan by over 61,000 votes in Suar. However, this time, Apna Dal (Sonelal) managed to turn the tide in its favour, signalling a shift in the political dynamics of the region. The Rampur assembly constituency as well as the Rampur parliamentary constituency, both Azam Khan’s strongholds, were won by the BJP in the last election.
The SP after the BSP chose to skip the elections. The Jharsuguda seat in Odisha witnessed a fierce battle between the ruling Biju Janata Dal’s Deepali Das, the BJP’s Tankadhar Tripathy, and Congress’ Tarun Pandey. Meanwhile, the Sohiong assembly seat in Shillong saw a contest between National People’s Party (NPP) and United Democratic Party (UDP).
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The Aam Aadmi Party has won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha polls. The party maintained a good lead from the beginning and overall secured 3,02,097 votes. Congress candidate Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary secured 2,43,450 votes.
Apna Dal (S) candidate Shafeek Ahmed Ansari has won the constituency with 47,167 votes. Samajwadi Party candidate Anuradha Chauhan is on second position with 43,532 votes.
Aam Aadmi Party has taken a huge lead of 47,000 votes over its rivals Congress, BJP and SAD in Jalandhar.
Apna Dal (S) is leading by a slim margin of 963 votes in Suar.
According to IE, the Aam Aadmi Party has a lead of 13,996 votes in the Jalandhar Lok Sabha bypoll.
In Jalandhar, the race is on to replace the late Santokh Singh Chaudhary, with the Congress, BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal, and AAP all vying for the seat. Karamjit Kaur represents Congress, while the BJP has nominated Inder Iqbal Atwal, an Akali import. The SAD-BSP has fielded Banga MLA Dr Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi, and the AAP has nominated former Congress MLA Sushil Rinku.