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Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias ‘Raja Bhaiya’s newly formed Jansatta Dal Loktantrik Party clinched two seats in its maiden election after the results of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections were announced on Thursday evening.
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The party’s national president Singh (52) was re-elected from Kunda in Pratapgarh district after he defeated his former close aide and Samajwadi Party candidate Gulshan Yadav (38). The six-time MLA secured 99,612 votes, while Yadav stood at the second spot by bagging 69,297 votes. Before 2022, he had contested as an independent candidate for five consecutive polls. The BJP had fielded Sindhuja Mishra Senani in the constituency.
It was the first time that the SP had fielded a candidate in the constituency in almost two decades. Considered to be close to SP founder and patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, the muscleman-turned-politician had served as a minister in the BJP and SP governments in the state. However, he had a falling out with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav after the former tied up with the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party despite his objections.
In Babaganj, the party had fielded one of Singh’s close aides Vinod Kumar, who won after he secured 67,282 votes by besting SP’s Girish Chandra. Kumar had successfully from Babaganj in the 2012 assembly elections as an independent candidate. Kunda is dominated by Yadavs (80,000), Patels (65,000) and SCs (65,000).
