SP leads in both seats in UP.

Gorakhpur Bypoll: SP's Praveen Kumar Nishad leading by 1523 with 44,979 votes, BJP's Upendra Dutt Shukla second with 43,456 votes.


Phulpur Bypoll: Samajwadi Party's Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel leading by 12,231 votes with 99,557 votes, BJP's Kaushlendra Singh Patel second with 87,326 votes after eight round of counting.


The results are expected to be declared by afternoon, an EC official said.


Ten nominees were in the fray from Gorakhpur, while 22 candidates contested from Phulpur.


According to the EC, there are 19.61 lakh voters in the Phulpur parliamentary constituency and 19.49 lakh in the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat.


The bypolls were necessitated after Adityanath and his Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya vacated the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats respectively, following their election to the state legislative council.


Gorakhpur is significant for the BJP with Adityanath representing the seat in the Lok Sabha five times. Before him, his mentor Yogi Avaidyanath was MP from the seat.


Phulpur, once represented by the country's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, witnessed a saffron surge in the 2014 Lok Sabha election when Maurya won the seat. -- PTI


File pic.