 "BJP's Lodhi wins bypoll in UP's Rampur; setback for AAP in Punjab's Sangrur")
BJP candidate Ghanshyam Lodhi on Sunday wrested the Rampur parliamentary seat from the Samajwadi Party, defeating his nearest rival by over 42,000 votes in a bypoll.
"Lodhi has won by over 42,000 votes," Rampur District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar told reporters after giving the winning certificate to Lodhi.
Lodhi defeated SP candidate Mohd Asim Raja, considered close to party leader Mohd Azam Khan, who had won from the constituency in 2019.
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of Azam Khan following his election to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
"This is a victory of the people of Rampur," Lodhi said, adding that he would now work as their "chowkidar".
Meanwhile, SAD (Amritsar)'s Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, AAP's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
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Mann polled 2,53,154 votes, while Singh secured 2,47,332 votes, as per the data available.
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the state earlier conceded defeat in the seat and congratulated the SAD (Amritsar) leader.
Addressing the media, AAP spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said, "We respect the mandate of the people of Sangrur seat. We also congratulate Simranjit Singh Mann on his victory."
The bypoll to the seat was necessitated due to the resignation of AAP's Bhagwant Mann from the Lok Sabha after he was elected as an MLA in the state assembly elections earlier this year.
Counting of votes began at 8 am on Sunday amid tight security arrangements.
The fate of 16 candidates who were in the fray was sealed during the polling on June 23.
The Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll had witnessed a low turnout of 45.30 per cent as against 72.44 per cent polling in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and 76.71 in 2014.
There were 15.69 lakh eligible voters.
Bhagwant Mann, who is the state's chief minister now, had won the Sangrur seat in the 2014 and the 2019 parliamentary elections.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)