"Ghosi bypoll a test for INDIA bloc: Samajwadi Party

Uttar Pradesh [India], September 10 (ANI): Following the victory of Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh in the Assembly bypoll of Ghosi on Friday, SP leader Udayveer Singh said on Sunday that the bye-election in Ghosi was a test for the INDIA unity, and the "result of the bypoll has given hope that the INDIA alliance will defeat the ruling BJP at the Centre in the upcoming Lok Sabha election."
Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "The election of the Ghosi bypoll Assembly seat was something that the entire nation was looking at. Even though the bye-elections were held in seven different places in six states, the most important of them was the bye-election in Ghosi. The bye-election in Ghosi was a test, as several leaders of our parties had left and several had joined the BJP," he said.
Singh further went on to say, "The Lok Sabha election will be held next year, and if INDIA alliance has done well in the Ghosi bypoll, chances are high that it will do even better in Uttar Pradesh and in the country. The way the Samajwadi Party has registered its victory with a huge margin under the INDIA alliance, the result has given hope to all. In the upcoming election, we are going to do even better."
Launching an attack on the BJP, he said the Central government is using different agencies to its advantage. "By using central agencies, the BJP is stopping rival parties from contesting in elections," he said.
"The way the Bharatiya Janta Party-led Central government is running, using agencies to their advantage, all are learning from them how a ruling party uses agencies against rivals. There should be a system where all the investigations are launched in an unbiased way. The guilty should get punishment, and the innocent should not be punished," he added.
The bypoll in Ghosi was necessitated after Dara Singh Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls as Samajwadi Party candidate, came back to the BJP. Samajwadi Party candidate Sudhakar Singh won from Ghosi by a big margin of 42,759 votes.
Voting for bypolls was held on September 5 in six states for seven Assembly seats, and the results were declared on September 8. The opposition secured victory in four seats, including UP's Ghosi, Jharkhand's Dumri, West Bengal's Dhupguri, and Kerala's Puthuppally, while the saffron party won two seats in Tripura and one seat in Uttarakhand.
Notably, this was the first election after the formation of the INDIA bloc against the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha election due next year. (ANI)