Beyond the Maharashtra sweep, the other good news for the BJP on Saturday came from Uttar Pradesh. The Yogi Adityanath-led UP BJP not only won six of the seven bypolls it contested but also managed to wrest two Samajwadi Party (SP) seats that had elected non-BJP parties for almost three decades.

The results marked a setback for the SP that was on the upswing in Uttar Pradesh after the Lok Sabha polls in which it won the most seats. In the end, the BJP-led NDA won 7 of the nine seats where bypolls were held and the SP two.

In minority-dominated Kundarki, which the SP’s Zia-ur-Rehman Barq vacated to contest the Lok Sabha polls, the party’s Mohammad Rizwan lost to the BJP’s Ramveer Singh by 1.44 lakh votes. In the last 28 years, Kundarki has been swinging between the SP and the BSP. This is the first time the constituency has elected an MLA not from the minority community. The SP centred its campaign around the “PDA, or Pichde (backward classes or OBCs), Dalits, Alpasankhyak (minorities)” pitch but it failed to gain traction among the voters.

Katehari in Ambedkarnagar district, which is dominated by OBC and Dalits, saw the BJP’s Dharamraj Nishad defeat the SP’s Shobhawati Verma by 34,514 votes. The seat was won by the SP’s Lalji Verma in 2022 and fell vacant after he was elected to Lok Sabha. Just like Kundarki, the victory in Katehari is of significance for the BJP as it comes after three decades. It had last won the constituency in 1991.

Apart from Kundarki and Katehri, the other four seats that the BJP won are Ghaziabad, Khair, Manjhwa, and Phulpur. The BJP’s Sanjeev Verma won Ghaziabad against Raj Singh Jatav of the SP by 69,000 votes. In Khair, Surender Diler of the BJP defeated Charu Kain of the SP by 38,393 votes. Phulpur saw Deepak Patel of the BJP trounce Mohammad Mujtaba Siddiqui of the SP by 11,305 votes. In Majhawa, which was won by BJP ally NISHAD party in the 2022 Assembly polls, the party’s Shuchismita Maurya defeated Jyoti Bind of SP by 4,922 votes.

The SP retained two seats, Karhal and Sisamau. There was a Yadav versus Yadav battle in Karhal, which SP chief Akhilesh Yadav vacated when he contested the Lok Sabha poll from Kannauj. While the SP fielded Akhilesh’s nephew Tej Pratap Singh Yadav, the BJP fielded Anujesh Yadav who is the son-in-law of SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s younger brother Abhay Ram Yadav. Tej Pratap retained the SP stronghold by 14,725 votes.

Sisamau was vacated following the conviction of sitting SP MLA Irfan Solanki in a criminal case. Solanki’s wife and SP nominee Naseem Solanki defeat the BJP’s Suresh Awasthi by 8,564 seats.

BJP ally Rashtriya Lok Dal of Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary retained Meerapur, with Mithilesh Pal defeating the SP’s Sumbul Rana by 30,000 votes.

The NDA’s wins are a big boost for Adityanath who directly took control of the bypoll campaign right from the start, attempting to correct the narrative about a BJP on the back foot after the Lok Sabha elections.

Adityanath termed the victory “historic” and credited the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “The victory of BJP-NDA in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly by-elections is a testament to the unwavering faith of the people in the successful leadership and vision of our respected Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi Ji,” the UP CM wrote on X.

He added, “This victory is the outcome of the double-engine government’s commitment to security, good governance, and public welfare, as well as the tireless efforts of dedicated party workers”.

Akhilesh said after the results “the real struggle of the PDA” formula had begun. “The world, the country and Uttar Pradesh saw the most distorted form of electoral politics in this by-election,” he said, adding, “Now the real struggle has begun … Clench your fist… If we join (together), we will win.”