In a setback for the BJP, the ruling party lost Assembly elections in a seat it was holding — Noorpur in Bijnor district — in the bypoll results declared on Thursday. Samajwadi Party candidate Naim Ul Hasan defeated BJP candidate Avnish Singh by a margin of 5,662 votes. Avnish is the widow of BJP leader Lokendra Singh Chauhan, who was elected from Noorpur in 2017 and the bypoll was necessitated by his death. The BJP was banking on sympathy votes in the bypoll, but party insiders said that Avnish lost because Muslim voters got united. Noorpur has a sizeable population of Muslims.
