UP by-election: BJP-ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) Wins in SP’s Stronghold ‘Suar’

GG News Bureau

Lucknow, 13th May. The ruling BJP-ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) won the Suar assembly by-election on Saturday, breaking the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party’s last citadel in Uttar Pradesh’s Rampur district.

According to the Election Commission website, Shafeek Ahmed Ansari of the Apna Dal (Sonelal) received slightly more than 50% of the total votes cast in the by-election.

According to the website, Ansari received 68,630 votes, while his nearest rival and Samajwadi Party (SP) nominee Anuradha Chauhan received 59,906 votes.

On May 10, more than 1.35 lakh votes were cast in the Suar assembly by-election.

Both the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress did not run for this seat.

The Suar assembly seat became vacant in February after two-term member and SP leader Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan was sentenced to two years in prison in a 15-year-old case by a Moradabad court.

The BJP won both the Rampur assembly and parliamentary constituencies, which were strongholds of Azam Khan.

In the Uttar Pradesh assembly election last year, Abdullah Azam Khan defeated Apna Dal (Sonelal)’s Haidar Ali Khan by more than 61,000 votes in Suar.