Key races for Congress and Samajadwadi Party leaders are almost decided against their favour in the constituencies of Fazilnagar, Tamkuhi Raj and Farrukhabad.
It was an altogether bad day for the Congress. As per the results, the Congress was leading in only a couple of seats out of 403 in the state with many of its senior leaders trailing in their respective constituencies. State Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu was trailing and was at the third position in Tamkuhi Raj constituency in Kushinagar district with 18,234 votes, as opposed to BJP's Asim Kumar's 54,939. Louise Khurshid, the wife of senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid, lost Farrukhabad assembly seat with a paltry 885 votes in hand. Aradhana Mishra was among the party candidates leading. She is contesting from Rampur Khas assembly seat in Pratapgarh district. The party is also trailing in Rae Bareli and Amethi, once known to be its strongholds.
In Fazilnagar, influential OBC leader and former Uttar Pradesh minister Swami Prasad Maurya, who recently switched over to the SP along with some other BJP leaders, was trailing with 18,774 votes as opposed to BJP's Surendra Kumar Khushwaha's 39,849 votes. Maurya was facing a tough challenge. Close on the heels of BJP inducting former Union minister and popular OBC leader R.P.N. Singh, Maurya changed his constituency from Padrauna to Fazilnagar within the Kushinagar district. However, the poll battle was not expected to be easy for him in Fazilnagar, which was won by Ganga Singh Kushwaha of the BJP in 2017. According to estimates of political parties, the Fazilnagar assembly segment has around 90,000 Muslim voters, 55,000 Maurya Kushwahas, 50,000 Yadavs, 30,000 Brahmins, 40,000 Kurmi-Sainthwars, 30,000 Vaishyas and about 80,000 Dalits.
