Kairana bypoll: Combined opposition dents BJP MEERUT: After Gorakhpur and Phoolpur loss, BJP faced its second successive defeat in bypolls after it conceded the Kairana Lok Sabha seat to grand alliance candidate in a fierce electoral battle.RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan defeated her nearest rival BJP's Mriganka Singh by over 55,000 votes. SP candidate Naimul Hasan won in Bijnor's Noorpur by 6,211 votes defeating Avani Singh of BJP, adding to the party's humiliating defeat in bypolls barely a year away from general elections.Riding on polarisation and sympathy votes, BJP was served a blow both in Kairana and Noorpur - where opposition had come together to field a common candidate, an experiment that had tasted success in Gorakhpur and Phoolpur earlier this year.Both western UP seats had fallen vacant after the death of sitting BJP legislators in MP Hukum Singh of Kairana (who died of ill-health) and MLA Lokender Singh of Noorpur who passed away in an accident.In order to garner sympathy votes, BJP had fielded daughter and wife of the deceased leaders.Kairana has been the most watched constituency with huge political relevance so much so senior leaders including CM Yogi visited repeatedly for campaigning in this region.Even PM Modi chose to inaugurate Eastern peripheral expressway just a day before bypoll in the neighbouring district Baghpat drawing great amount of criticism from opposition that even rushed to EC to get it cancelled in order to prevent its influence on bypoll.Kairana Lok Sabha constituency comprises five assembly seats – Kairana, Shamli, Thanabhawan, Nakud and Gangoh. Out of these five BJP could win only in Shamli and Kairana with a margin of 414 and 14,203 votes but lost in the remaining three. In Shamli it lost by 16,336 votes. In Gangoh and Nakud which fall in Saharanpur district, BJP lost by 12,263 and 28,117 votes respectively.One of the BJP poll supervisors -- Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan -- conceded defeat stating, "We respect decision of voters and cannot question that. We went into the masses with records of our good work but many a times, politics of religion and caste spoils things. We will sit and analyse where we failed and work accordingly. "Tabassum Hasan meanwhile declared victory and stated, "The truth has won eventually and indication of what is going to happen in 2019."<doc-sep>The BJP knew the importance of sugarcane as a political issue in Uttar Pradesh and Kairana during the 2017 Assembly elections, but its failure to fulfill the promises it made in the 2017 Assembly elections in the Uttar Pradesh Facilitating purchase of all sugarcane produce and timely payment of arrears to sugarcane farmers was one of the key poll-promises of the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, but the government failed to keep the farmers satisfied, especially in Kairana, the result of which was BJP's crushing defeat in the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency, reports have claimed. That BJP's Jinnah politics failed against the Opposition parties ganna politics. Interestingly, apart from being one of the largest growers of sugarcane, Uttar Pradesh also pays the highest State Advised Price (SAP) for sugarcane. Unlike Maharashtra or Karnataka where rates are way lower and closer to the rate fixed by the central government, Uttar Pradesh in 2017 had announced an SAP of Rs 315. Then why are farmers in Uttar Pradesh, or Kairana, not happy? And how did it lead to the BJP's defeat in the Kairana by election? Can the Yogi Adityanth government be blamed for the bypoll results? Ever since the Adityanath government came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2017, the ruling party has been in (ill)famously in news for things like banning cow slaughter, closing unlicensed meat shops, its ministers making communally flaring comments on the Ram Mandir or inter-faith marriages, and for atrocities against Dalits — now defined as "everyday communalism" to keep the Hindutva politics alive. Solving pertinent issues doesn't seem to be on the mind of the state government. One such issue is the sugarcane problem in the state. In other words, the Adityanath administration has been busy doing everything except administering the state. Sugarcane is a major cash crop in Uttar Pradesh. It accounts for roughly Rs 30,000 crore worth of direct economy and has over 40 lakh rural households engaged in various activities including farming. Sugarcane, thus, is a politically sensitive issue, and any decision around it can make or break the goodwill among voters, especially in communally sensitive western Uttar Pradesh. Kairana being one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in the region. The BJP knew it very well, and therefore, in its 2017 poll manifesto, the party made two poll promises — payment to farmers within 14 days of selling sugarcane, and second, ensure mills purchase all the sugarcane produced. In November 2017, it announced that sugarcane will be purchased at an SAP of Rs 315 per quintal and that farmers will be paid in one installment by sugar mills. According to India Today, state sugarcane minister Suresh Rana, and an MLA from Thana Bhavan, one of the Assembly constituencies that are part of the Kairana parliamentary constituency, had even said that there would be no piling up of arrears this season due to stricter monitoring and structural changes, including the provision of a joint escrow account, under which 85 percent of the money received by mills on account of the sale of sugar would be diverted for settling farmers’ dues automatically. By March 2018, with sugarcane crushing still in progress, Uttar Pradesh had already clocked a record production of sugar with almost 9 lakh tonnes. Though this was a good production year for Uttar Pradesh sugar mills, it also meant a piling up of arrears to be paid to farmers also since sugar prices in India haven't risen vis-a-vis to sugarcane prices, especially in Uttar Pradesh. Despite assurances by the Adityanath government, payment of arrears remained slow. By March 2018, sugar mills in Uttar Pradesh reportedly owed Rs 9,600 crores (Rs 12,000 crores according to India Today) in arrears to farmers. In Kairana alone, the arrears due were at Rs 1,000 crore. The fact that Uttar Pradesh sugarcane prices — Rs 315 for common variety (used for sugar production) as fixed by the government — was way higher than sugarcane prices in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka doesn't help the case either. Interestingly, while Maharashtra and Karnataka use a revenue-sharing formula where sugarcane is purchased as per fair and remunerative price (FRP) fixed by the Centre. The FRP for the ongoing season is Rs 255 which was Rs 230 in the previous years. The Adityanath government not only failed to fulfill the promises made in its poll manifesto, that it continued with the methods of the Akhilesh Yadav government shows a lack of interest in bringing the change that it promised. In the end, BJP's poll promise led to its defeat in Kairana by-election. And it did so, without taking any significant efforts to resolve Uttar Pradesh's sugarcane problem. That the Adityanth government had lost the plot when it came to Uttar Pradesh's sugarcane problem was clear when it ordered a CBI inquiry into the sale of 21 sugarcane mills by the then Mayawati government. While tjhe BJP hoped to deflect the attention to the Opposition, the move backfired as the probe dashed the hopes of the mills' revival in their future. Even Modi's visit to Baghpat to inaugurate an expressway just a day before Kairana went to polls didn't help BJP. "Ganna" eventually even beat BJP's development agenda. With inputs from PTI<doc-sep>Lok Sabha Bypoll Results 2018 Live: The bye-election on four parliamentary seats were held on May 28. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) Lok Sabha Bypoll Results 2018 Live: The bye-election on four parliamentary seats were held on May 28. (Express Photo by Vishal Srivastav) Electoral success continued to evade BJP in the face of an united opposition in Uttar Pradesh bypolls as the saffron party was trounced by RLD in Kairana Lok Sabha seat, while Samajwadi Party gave it the blues in Noorpur assembly constituency. RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan, who was backed by SP and Congress and tacitly supported by BSP, defeated BJP’s Mriganka Singh by over 50,000 votes. Singh, the daughter of late BJP leader Hukum Singh, whose death in February necessitated the bye-election, conceded defeat and said the alliance had emerged strong. “Many voters did vote for BJP but with a lead of some thousand votes, the alliance has won. I would like to congratulate the candidate. The alliance has emerged strong and now we have to prepare better for future,” Singh said. Read | How to check bye-election results on Election Commission of India website Meanwhile, in Mahatashtra, BJP retained the Palghar Lok Sabha seat while NCP won in Bhandara-Gondiya constituency. BJP’s Rajendra Gavit defeated his nearest rival, Shriniwas Wanga of Shiv Sena, the son of sitting MP Chintaman Vanga, whose death in January had necessitated the bypoll, by over 29,000 votes. However, Shiv Sena claimed there was discrepancy in the counting of votes in a few rounds in Palghar and demanded recounting. Sena has shot off a letter to the election officials. In Bhandara-Gondiya seat, which the BJP had won in the 2014 elections, the NCP’s Madhukar Kukade has established a lead of 16,112 votes over the BJP’s Hemant Patle. Follow Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll results 2018 LIVE Coming to the eastern region, Tokheho Yepthomi, fielded by the ruling People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA), is leading over his lone rival of the opposition NPF for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland. LIVE | Assembly Bypoll Results 2018<doc-sep>The Samajwadi Party has won the Noorpur Assembly seat by 6,678 votes. Meanwhile, RLD's Tabassum Hasan is leading with 3,60,821 votes in Kairana. Auto refresh feeds Earlier in March, the saffron party had suffered defeats in the bypolls held in Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats after two opposition parties – BSP and SP – joined hands. The united opposition will treat the bypolls as a pilot project, which if successful, will surely be replicated in 2019 to stop the BJP from coming back to power. All eyes will be on the Kairana Lok Sabha seat and Noorpur Assembly constituency as counting is set to begin in a few hours. The outcome of the polls is crucial for both, the BJP and the Opposition. While the saffron party needs to prove that the mandate is pro-incumbency in Uttar Pradesh, all eyes will be on the combined Opposition candidates in the fray to see if they can uproot the BJP. The counting of votes will start from 8 am in both the constituencies on Thursday. The results are expected to be out by late afternoon. Moreover, malfunctions were reported in 384 VVPAT (Vote Verifiable Paper Audit Trail) machines. Of this 29 were in Noorpur (Bijnor). Apart from this, three EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines) also malfunctioned in Shamli. Following these reports, repolling was conducted at 73 polling booths in Kairana on Wednesday, with 61 percent voter turnout. At the end of polling, Kairana Lok Sabha constituency recorded a polling percentage of 54.17, while in Noorpur Assembly constituency, the figure was 61 percent, Joint Chief Electoral Officer, Ramesh Chandra Rai, said. The bypolls in both seats were marred by controversy over malfunctioning EVMs, election malpractices, while the troubles of the parties were compounded by a low voter turnout. The Kairana seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh, whose daughter Mriganka Singh is now the party candidate. She is fighting Rashtriya Lok Dal's Tabassum Hasan, who is also supported by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. Just ahead of the polls, Lok Dal candidate Kanwar Hasan retired from the contest and joined RLD, further boosting Hasan's chances. Mriganka had also contested the Assembly elections in Kairana in 2017 but she lost heavily to Samajwadi Party's Nahid Hasan, who is the son of party's former MP Munawar Khan. In Noorpur by-election, the main contest is between BJP and Samajwadi Party. The BJP has fielded Avani Singh, the wife of the deceased MLA from the seat Lokendra Singh Chauhan as its candidate, while the Samajwadi Party has given a ticket to Naeemul Hasan. The polls were necessitated after the death o Chauhan. The outcome of the Kairana bye-election on Thursday will show if the ruling BJP manages to break its losing streak this year in Uttar Pradesh Lok Sabha bypolls or hands over a hat-trick to the Opposition. The counting of votes for the Noorpur Assembly constituency in the state will also be taken up on Thursday. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am. Voting for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat was held on 28 May and re-polling on Wednesday due to dysfunction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), VVPAT machine at 73 booths. The counting for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat will be done at Saharanpur while for the Noorpur Vidhan Sabha seat, counting will take place in Bijnor. It is scheduled to start at 8 am. The Lok Sabha seats include Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Palghar, and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and the sole parliamentary constituency in Nagaland. The Assembly consituencies are Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh), Shahkot (Punjab), Jokihat (Bihar), Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand), Chengannur (Kerala), Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra), Ampati (Meghalaya), Tharali (Uttarakhand) and Maheshtala (West Bengal). The counting of votes for 10 Assembly constituencies and four Lok Sabha seats across 10 states will be held on Thursday. The seats had gone to polls on 28 May. Counting of votes for the crucial Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh has begun on Thursday. The results of these seats are important for both the BJP and the Opposition. While the saffron party needs to prove that it hasn't lost its magic of the previous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, all eyes will be on the combined Opposition candidates in the fray to see if they uproot the BJP. Naeem Ul Hasan, who is contesting on the Samajwadi Party ticket from the Noorpur Assembly seat, is leading with 1,264 votes. After the second round pf counting, the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Noorpur, Naeem Ul Hasan is leading. According to News18 , BJP candidate Mriganka Singh is leading in early trends. Kairana is one of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and is located in the western region of the state. As per early trends, joint opposition candidate Tabassum Hasan, contesting on a Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket, for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat is leading. Shamli collector Indra Vijay Singh informed the media that the first round of counting has been completed with tabulation underway. "Congress candidate Tabassum Hasan has received 3,700 votes and BJP's Mriganka Singh has received 3,746 votes," he siad. Since the early 1990s. the families of Hukum Singh and Munawwar Hassan have been locked in a see-saw tussle for Kairana in Uttar Pradesh. Even after their deaths, their political legacies have been handed over to people from their families for the last two decades. Since 1991, every Kairana MLA has been from either of these two families, according to News18 . Hassan passed away in a road accident in Haryana’s Palwal in 2008. Singh passed away 10 years later of a prolonged illness. But the rivalry didn’t die with them. Naeem Ul Hasan of Samajwadi Party leading in Noorpur Assembly seat after the fifth round with 4,385 votes. According to News18 Hindi , RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan is leading in Kairana by 30,085 votes after the fourth round of counting. BJP's Mriganka Singh received 15,095 votes. Following the third round of counting, RLD's Tabassum Hasan has garnered 55,082 votes while BJP candidate Mriganka Singh is trailing at 45,300 votes.<doc-sep>
Voting in Kairana on Monday was hit by snags in the voting machines. Highlights BJP trails in the Kairana Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh RLD's Tabassum Hasan is also backed by Congress and SP in Kairana Kairana bypoll is being seen as another test for opposition unity The opposition today wrested Kairana from the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, where the parliamentary by-poll became a massive battle for pride in an election year leading up to the 2019 national polls.Tabassum Hasan, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate, won against her BJP rival Mriganka Singh.Ms Hasan, a former lawmaker, was supported by the Congress and Samajwadi Party ; she also claimed the support of Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The by-poll was pitched as another test of opposition unity against the BJP after the Samajwadi Party and BSP pooled their resources to defeat the ruling party in its strongholds Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March.The opposition hopes to evolve a successful template for joining forces to take on the BJP in state elections later this year and the 2019 national polls.By-polls were held in Kairana because of the death of Mriganka Singh's father, BJP parliamentarian Hukum Singh, in February.In the Noorpur Assembly seat, which was also left vacant after the death of a BJP legislator in a road accident, the Samajwadi Party has won. Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the opposition's win in Kairana and Noorpur was a win for the farmers, the neglected, the poor and the Dalits. He also thanked all opposition parties for coming together and ensuring the win in the bypolls. "Farmers were told their loans would be waived, but they lost lives instead. Voters made it a point to bear whatever the circumstances to come out just to teach a lesson to the BJP. I also thank all other political leaders who came together and stood together to ensure that we win," he said.Voting in both Kairana and Noorpur was hit by complaints of snags in Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs or or Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines that produces slips to confirm to the voter that his choice has been recorded correctly. Repolling was held at 73 polling stations in Kairana yesterday.