Ghatampur: BJP wins, says people reposed faith in Modi & Yogi

KANPUR: BJP retained the Ghatampur (Reserved) assembly seat as party candidate Upendra Paswan defeated the Congress’s Dr Kripa Shankar Sankhwar by a margin of 23,820 votes. Paswan got 60,405 votes, while Sankhwar could muster only 36,585.
Late Kamal Rani Varun had won the seat by 45,178 votes in the 2017 assembly elections by defeating then BSP candidate Saroj Kureel.
Paswan, who established lead over BSP’s Kuldeep Sankhwar till the 32 round, maintained it through the next six more rounds with Congress candidate Dr Kripa Shankar.
The bypolls were necessitated after the death of state minister Kamal Rani Varun (62). She had been undergoing treatment at SGPGI, Lucknow. Varun had tested positive for Covid-19 in July. She died on August 2 due to complications brought on by the disease.
BSP’s Kuldeep Sankhwar got 33,955 votes, Indrajeet Kori of SP got 22,735 votes, Vipin Kumar Bhartiya of Arjak Adhikar Dal 1,202 votes and Ashok Paswan of Sabhi Jan Party 1,039 votes. As many as 1,555 voters voted for NOTA. Upendra Paswan said that the results showed that the people had rejected the Congress, BSP and SP and reposed faith in the leadership of PM Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath.