Kairana Lok Sabha Bye-Election Results 2018 highlights: Defeat for those who do not believe in democracy, says Akhilesh on RLD’s win

Begum Tabassum Hasan, who won the Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll on  RLD ticket, is not an unfamiliar face in UP politics. Tabassum has the backing of Congress, SP and BSP against BJP’s Mriganka Singh. With the victory, Tabassum has become the only Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh since 2014. READ PROFILE HERE.

After losing Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP suffered yet another setback today as the RLD and SP wrested the Kairana and Noorpur Assembly seats from it respectively. In Kairana, RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan, supported by the Congress, SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), defeated her nearest BJP rival BJP Singh. In Noorpur, SP candidate Naeemul Hasan, supported by the Congress, BSP and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), defeated BJP candidate Avni Singh. READ FULL REPORT HERE.

On the results, Union minister Rajnath Singh told ANI, "To take a giant leap, you will have to take two steps back. We will take a giant leap in the future."

With the BJP facing a drubbing in the bye-elections, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the results reflected the anger against the Modi government. He tweeted, "Today's results reflect that there is a lot of anger against the Modi government. Until now people were asking what is the option. Today, people are saying Modi ji in not an alternative. Remove him first."

While addressing the media, Akhilesh said, "This is a victory for the poor and the farmers. The BJP has always tried to deflect attention from real issues. This is a defeat for those who do not believe in democracy. People have given a befitting reply to the BJP."

Congratulating party workers and alliance members, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, "Congratulations to the people, activists, candidates and all united parties of Kairana and Noorpur! The defeat of the ruling party in Kairana is the defeat of their politics that divides the country in their own laboratory. This is the beginning of the victory of the people who believe in unity and the end of egoistic power."

"Several people did vote for the 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 we have to prepare ourselves better for the future," Mriganka Singh told ANI on Tabassum Hasan leading by 49,000 votes.

After 20 rounds of counting, Tabassum Hasan polled 4,01,464 votes, while her nearest rival, BJP's Mriganka Singh, got 3,52,173 votes, the election office said.

Reacting to the RLD leading in Kairana LS bypoll, RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary said, "Would like to thank all parties who supported us, thank Akhilesh ji, Mayawati ji, Rahul ji, Sonia ji, CPI(M), AAP and others. Jinnah hara, Ganna jeeta."

Uttar Pradesh's ruling BJP today stared at major electoral upsets with the joint opposition candidate, RLD's Tabassum Hasan, leading by over 42,734 votes in the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency and the SP ahead in the Noorpur Assembly seat.

Tabassum Hasan said, "Modi government is lying for the past four years. They have not done anything good for the people of India."

If elected, Tabassum Hasan will be the first Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh since 2014

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party has won Uttar Pradesh's Noorpur seat by 6211 votes.

Tabassum Hasan has polled 2,31,965 votes while her nearest rival, BJP's Mriganka Singh has got 1,94,875 votes till now, the election office said.

Today’s bypolls results will be a key indicator of the voters’ mood, sending out a message to political parties on how to strategise for the Lok Sabha elections 2019.  All eyes are on Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana seat that is being seen as a test for Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Prime Minister Narendra Modi given that the BJP suffered setbacks recently in Phoolpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats in the state. Click here to read the 10 things you should know about the bypoll results today

Once the counting is completed, the results will be available on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website (http://eci.nic.in). Meanwhile, you can also track the results in real-time at The Indian Express. Read More

So, now after the 15th round of counting, RLD's Tabassum Hasan is still leading by 42,734 votes over BJP's Mriganka Singh. The margin is increasing continuously.

In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Hukum Singh from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had won in Kairana with 5,65,909 votes defeating Samajwadi Party's Nahid Hasan. Nahid had got 3,29,081 votes.

In 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Tabassum Begum who was then contesting from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had won in Kairana.

In 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Anuradha Choudhary had won in Kairana with 5,23,923 votes defeating BSP's Shah Nawaz who had got 1,81,509 votes.

Tabassum Hasan now leading by 41,391 votes over BJP's Mriganka Singh after the 13th round of counting,

Asked about the farmers’ concern, BJP's Mriganka said the situation has improved. “The chief minister himself has taken a lot of interest in the issue. And he has himself addressed their grievances. And this problem arose because there was a bump in the production of sugarcane and the output was I think three times over. So, it was beyond capacity. But the payment that has been released is already more than what was happening in the previous years. And whatever payment is left, we updated it very soon. The farmers are with us,” said Mriganka.

"This is the victory of truth. I still stand by what I said, there has been a conspiracy and we do not want any future elections to be conducted on EVM machines. The path for the united opposition is clear in 2019," said RLD's Tabassum Hasan on her lead in trends of Kairana Lok Sabha by-poll.

Kairana constituency has six sugar mills. In the current 2017-18 season (October-September), the six mills have, as on May 18, bought sugarcane worth Rs 1,778.49 crore at the UP government’s State Advised Price (SAP) of Rs 315-325 per quintal. Of this, they were to pay Rs 1,695.25 crore within 14 days of purchase but have so far disbursed just Rs 888.03 crore. That translates into Rs 807.22 crore in arrears – for a single constituency.

Tabassum Hasan, however, outrightly rejected the reports of Hindu exodus from the area. “There was no exodus from Kairana in the first place. Both Hindus and Muslims have been living here in harmony for generations. The exodus issue was flagged only to divert attention from important issues, to add a communal colour to the elections and divide voters,” she said.

On being asked about the issue of Hindu exodus, the candidates aired divergent views. “The exodus of Hindu families from Kairana has stopped,” said Mriganka, adding that “Before the 2017 UP Assembly elections, hundreds of Hindu families had fled from Kairana out of fear and harassment. However, after the BJP government under Yogi Adityanath was formed, the law and order scenario in the region has improved.” 

“Now, there is no contest left in the bye-election. We are going to win with a huge margin in the range of 3-4 lakh votes,” RLD chief Masood Ahmad had said.

Tabassum Hasan’s candidature got a boost after Lok Dal candidate Kanwar Hasan joined the Rashtriya Lok Dal at a meeting held in Kairana in the presence of Jayant Chaudhary, the national vice-president of RLD.

Kairana hit the national headlines before the 2017 UP assembly elections after the local MP Hukum Singh raised the issue of Hindu exodus from the area. The bypoll in the seat has been necessitated following the death of Hukum Singh.

With the JD(S) and the Congress joining hands to keep the BJP out of power in Karnataka, all eyes are now on Uttar Pradesh. The bypolls hold much importance for the ruling BJP after the recent drubbing in the Gorakhpur and Phoolpur bypolls where arch rivals Samajwadi Party tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party to defeat the saffron party. Read More

After nine rounds of counting, RLD's Tabassum Hasan leading by 32,600 votes over BJP's Mriganka Singh, in Kairana

Tabassum is the wife of ex-MP Munawwar Hasan, who appeared several times in her campaign pictures.

Even though the SP is supporting Tabassum Begum, party president Akhilesh Yadav did not campaign for her. The RLD has got support from the Lok Dal nominee Kanwar Hasan, who joined the RLD last week and extended support to his sister-in-law, Tabassum, claiming he wanted to prevent the division of Muslim votes.

The BJP has raised issues like the Muzaffarnagar riots and the alleged exodus of Hindus from the region during the campaign. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath addressed two rallies in Kairana, and recalled Jat youths Sachin and Gaurav who were allegedly killed before the riots. Over a dozen ministers of the state and central governments and many MPs and MLAs also campaigned in Kairana.

After the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, Jats moved away from the RLD, and supported the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections of the following year. This time, RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary have visited nearly every village to ask for votes on famers’ issues. The RLD has no MP currently, and its lone MLA in UP joined the BJP recently after being expelled for cross-voting in the BJP’s favour in the Rajya Sabha elections. “This is not about the existence of the party, it is a fight for the existence of farmers,” Jayant Chaudhary said.

So, of Kairana’s 16 lakh voters, nearly 5.5 lakh are Muslim. Jats and Gujjars have about 1.5 lakh votes each. A large section of Gujjars, Kashyaps, Vaishyas, and Saini voters support the BJP. But it is the Jat vote that is going to be significant.

A senior BSP leader who had attended a meeting with party chief Mayawati in Lucknow last week said, “Behenji has asked us to work to defeat the BJP. But she has not asked us to support any particular candidate. Hence, no directive has been given to party cadres, and supporters are free to choose the candidate they want to support.”

Jat and Dalit votes are likely to be decisive in Kairana. The BSP, which has a hold on nearly 1.5 lakh Jatav votes out of the constituency’s total 2.5 lakh Dalit votes, has not sent any message to its base.

RLD's Tabassum Hasan leading by over 6200 votes over BJP's Mriganka Singh.

Thursday's results for the vacant Lok Sabha seat Kairana in Uttar Pradesh will test the potential of a united opposition in the state that the BJP swept in 2014 and 2017. It is a prestige battle for the BJP after the defeats at the hands of the SP-BSP alliance in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March.

Now, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Tabassum Hasan is leading by over 3,000 votes over BJP's Mriganka Singh.

-ANI

'First round of counting is completed, the tabulation is underway, Congress candidate Tabassum Hasan has received 3700 votes and BJP's Mriganka Singh has received 3746 votes,' ANI quoted Indra Vijay Singh, Collector, Shamli, as saying.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party is leading from Uttar Pradesh's Noorpur Assembly constituency in early trends.

Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday became the latest politician from the opposition camp to press for elections using paper ballots. As faulty EVMs and VVPATs marred bypolls to Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly seats on Monday, Akhilesh called it a “dangerous trend for democracy”. “Complaints in large numbers have been received of EVMs and VVPAT developing snags in areas where SP and RLD have good influence during yesterday’s polling…it seems as if this has been done as part of a design,” the SP chief said at a press conference.

Apart from Kairana, voting in bypolls for Bhandara-Gondia constituency in Maharashtra was also marred by large-scale malfunctioning of the electronic voting machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on Monday. Amid all the blame games among the political parties, the Election Commission of India (ECI) described the reports of EVM/VVPAT malfunctioning as “exaggerated”. The Election Commission of India (ECI), in a statement, said, “News reports surfacing in media alleging ‘large scale’ failure of EVMs and VVPATs in the ongoing by-elections and interruption of polls in the states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are an exaggerated projection of reality.”

On Monday, officials had blamed a technical snag for the malfunction while the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which have closed ranks for the bypolls, alleged EVMs had been tampered with at the BJP’s behest. “The BJP wants to defeat us at any cost as it wants to avenge the defeat of Phulpur and Gorakhpur (Lok Sabha by-polls),” SP spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary had said.

The EC had sought a report from Uttar Pradesh CEO L Venkateshwar Lu, and the returning officers of Kairana and Noorpur seats. The CEO said that several complaints were reported of faulty VVPATs since the start of voting on Monday. A total of 384 VVPATs were changed after the faults came to light during voting.

In Kairana, around 80,000 voters exercised their franchise in 23 polling stations at Nakur, 44 in Gangoh, one at Thana Bhawan in Saharanpur and five in Shamli, on Wednesday.

Besides Kairana, counting of votes for three other Lok Sabha assembly constituencies — Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and Nagaland — is underway.

Jat and the 2.5 lakh Dalit votes are likely to be decisive in Kairana with BJP having a clout within a large section of Gujjars, Kashyaps and Vaishyas.

Among the four Lok Sabha seats that went to polls in different states, the results for Kairana will be the most keenly watched. The bypoll has become a prestige battle for the BJP after the defeats at the hands of the SP-BSP alliance in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur in March. In Kairana, which saw a 54 per cent voter turnout amid allegations of EVM tampering and glitches, the main contest is between Tabassum Begum of Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and BJP’s Mriganka Singh, the daughter of late BJP leader Hukum Singh, whose death in February has necessitated the bye-election. Tabassum Begum has the support of SP and Congress.

Counting of votes for the Kairana Parliamentary constituency has begun, visuals from a counting centre in Kairana.

Kairana in Uttar Pradesh saw 54 per cent voting in the polls held on Monday. The voting was held amid complaints of malfunctioning of EVM and VVPAT machines. However, it saw a voter turnout of 61 per cent on Wednesday.

Counting of votes for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat will begin from 8 am and results will be available on the Election Commission of India website eci.nic.in

A man was detained Wednesday night by police in an alleged fake voting case in Kairana. As per police accused was drunk and had tried to attack the police. The zonal magistrate said, 'voting was conducted from 7am to 6pm and was peaceful inside polling booths. I don't know what happened outside booths'.

Welcome to our LIVE blog. The counting of votes for Kairana Lok Sabha constituency bye-elections, which concluded on Wednesday after repolling at 73 booths, is going to be held today. To get the latest updates, follow LIVE updates.