Lucknow: The ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) Tuesday established an early lead in nine of the 11 assembly seats where bypolls were held.
According to Election Commission (EC) officials, SP candidates were leading in nine state assembly seats while its candidate Tej Pratap Singh, grand nephew of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, was leading by over one lakh votes over his nearest BJP rival Prem
Singh Shakya in Mainpuri parliamentary seat.
The BJP candidate was leading by 17,500 votes in Noida and in Lucknow, its candidate was leading by over 5,500 votes.
In Saharanpur, Sirathu, Balha, Kotdwar and Charkhari, SP candidates had established good leads over their BJP rivals.
SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhary told IANS that people had realized that they were taken for a ride by the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls and that they had now realized the communal harmony and development undertaken by the Akhilesh Yadav government.
SP leaders also said that the Modi magic was on the wane in UP as proved by early trends.
BSP did not contest the by polls.
