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.
