File Picture
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav’s stock rose dramatically with his Samajwadi Party cutting the ruling BJP down to size in Uttar Pradesh.
By the evening as per PTI report , the SP had won or established leads on 37 parliamentary seats. The BJP, which swept the last Lok Sabha polls in UP in 2019 by winning 62 seats on its own, was down to 33. The results were still coming in.
The SP’s performance – supplemented by leads on six seats by INDIA bloc partner Congress – turned out to be a major factor that contained the BJP-led NDA this time.
From winning five seats in the last election in partnership with the Bahujan Samaj Party, Akhilesh’s party in UP has dealt a bodyblow to the BJP, which had in 2019 won 62 seats on its own.
What will hurt Prime Minister Narendra MKodi and Amit Shah most is that BJP candidate Lallu Singh lost Faizabad Lok Sabha seat which includes Ayodhya where a grand Ram Temple was opened for the public earlier this year.
Singh, a three-time MP from Faizabad, was facing SP candidate Awadesh Prasad.
Rahul Gandhi won Raebareli while Smriti Irani lost Amethi seat to Congress candidate Kishori Lal.
