UP bypolls: SP’s Naseem Solanki wins from Sisamau as party leads in 2 other seats; BJP ahead in 5

The ruling BJP aims to secure victories in bypolls to build momentum ahead of the 2027 Assembly election. Meanwhile, the SP seeks to strengthen the support it gained during Lok Sabha election earlier this year, where the INDIA bloc won a majority of the state’s 80 seats.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which typically refrains from contesting bypolls, has actively participated this time and has secured third position in seven constituencies. In the remaining two seats—Meerapur and Kundarki—the Azad Samaj Party (Kanshi Ram), led by Chandrashekhar Azad, is in third place. Notably, the Azad Samaj Party holds the fourth position in the other seven constituencies.

With the Congress opting out of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly bypolls and instead extending support to the SP, the spotlight is on the latter, which has made efforts to reconnect with Muslims in the runup to the polls. The SP had fielded only five Muslim candidates in the recent Lok Sabha election.

This time, the SP contested all nine seats under its own symbol, while the BJP fielded candidates in eight constituencies, allotting Meerapur to its ally, the RLD.

The nine constituencies where counting is underway are Ghaziabad, Meerapur, Kundarki, Khair, Sisamau, Katehri, Phulpur, Majhawan, and Karhal.

Of these, the SP had won four of these seats — Kundarki, Karhal, Sisamau, and Katehari — in 2022 while the BJP had secured three: Phulpur, Ghaziabad, and Khair.

BJP allies RLD and NISHAD had clinched Meerapur and Majhawan.

Until 12.30 pm, the SP was leading in three of four seats it won in 2022 but was trailing in Kundarki. There, the BJP’s Ramveer Singh is leading with a significant margin of 18,086 votes over its Mohammad Rizwan, who has secured 2,815 votes so far, after the fourth round of counting.

On the other hand, the BJP, which had secured Phulpur, Ghaziabad, and Khair in 2022, continues to maintain its lead in these constituencies. It is also ahead in Majhawan, a seat previously won by its ally, the NISHAD Party.

The RLD aims to retain its Meerapur seat. There, its Mithlesh Pal is leading with 10,229 votes after the fourth round of counting while SP’s Sumbul Rana, the nearest contender, has secured 8,069 votes.

In Majhawan, BJP’s Shuchismita Maurya is leading with a margin of 5,172 votes over SP’s Jyoti Bind, who has secured 11,251 votes, after six rounds of counting.

In Katehari, BJP’s Dharamraj Nishad is leading by 1,011 votes after three rounds of counting against with SP’s Shobhawati Verma, who’s trailing at 3,061 votes.

In Phulpur, BJP’s Deepak Patel has 12,614 votes by the fifth round, maintaining a lead of 2,073 votes over SP’s Mohammad Mujtaba Siddiqui.

Meanwhile, in Karhal, the SP is leading after the eighth round of counting. Here, SP candidate Tej Pratap Singh has 30,288 votes, maintaining a lead of 13,227 votes over BJP’s Anujesh Pratap Singh, who has secured 17,061 votes.

In Khair, BJP’s Surender Diler is leading after six rounds of counting with 10,586 votes, ahead of SP’s Charu Kain.

In Ghaziabad, BJP’s Sanjeev Sharma had a significant lead of 19,863 votes at the end of the sixth round, while his closest competitor, SP’s Singh Raj Jatav, had 5,943 votes.

Naseem’s win from Sisamau

Naseem, who garnered significant attention throughout her election campaign, maintained a steady lead in the counting process. Suresh Awasthi and Virendra Kumar consistently held the second and third positions, respectively. By the eighth round of the 20 rounds of counting, Naseem was leading with 28,315 votes.

The Sisamau seat in Kanpur became vacant after Irfan Solanki’s disqualification following his conviction in a criminal case. Despite several contenders for the ticket, SP chose Naseem Solanki, hoping to capitalise on “sympathy votes”. The party believed her candidacy would help consolidate votes, given Irfan’s substantial support base in the constituency. After receiving the ticket, Naseem stated that it was not a time for celebration but for “sangharsh” (struggle).

In June, a court sentenced Samajwadi Party MLA Irfan Solanki, his younger brother Rizwan Solanki, and three others to seven years in prison for allegedly harassing a woman and setting her house on fire in an attempt to seize her land in the Jajmau area of Kanpur in 2022.