Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party won the Mainpuri parliamentary byelection on Thursday, defeating Raghuraj Singh Shakya of the BJP by a margin of 2,88,461 votes.
Mainpuri was vacant after the death of Dimple Yadav’s father-in-law and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh in October.
While Dimple Yadav secured 6,18,120 votes (64.08 per cent), BJP’s Shakya received 3,29,659 votes (34.18 per cent).
After the win, Dimple Yadav thanked Mainpuri voters for supporting her.
“I want to thank everyone who has supported me. I said this would be a historic mandate in the name of Neta ji and that is what has happened,” she said.
Accompanied by husband and party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple received her certificate from returning officer here.
The Hindu nationalist party had fielded Raghuraj Shakya, once considered close to Shivpal Yadav, hoping Shivpal’s backing in view of his distance with Akhilesh Yadav. But, Shivpal’s reunion with Akhilesh and his campaigning for Dimple Yadav poured cold water on the saffron party’s game plan.
