Uttar Pradesh: BSP ahead in 24, SP in 23, Cong 18 and BJP in eight

Ruling BSP was leading in 24 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh followed by its arch rival Samajwadi Party in 23 seats, Congress in 18 and BJP in eight, official sources said here.    

Congress President Sonia Gandhi had established a lead of 29,000 votes over R S Khushwaha of BSP in Rae Bareli and party General Secretary Rahul Gandhi was ahead of Ashish Shukla of BSP by 12,000 votes in Amethi, they said.    

BJP's ally RLD was leading in three seats, while independent was ahead in one seat. BJP President Rajnath Singh was leading by a margin of over 12,000 votes over Congress nominee S P Goyal, while SP candidate Jaya Prada was ahead of Congress candidate Noor Bano by a margin of 6,000 votes in Rampur.    

SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav was leading by 20,000 votes over his nearest rival Vinay Shakya of BSP. In Firozabad, SP candidate Akhilesh Yadav, son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, was leading over his nearest rival S P Singh Baghel of BSP.     

BJP leader Maneka Gandhi was trailing behind Dharmendra Kumar of SP by over 2,000 votes in Aonla. While, BJP candidate Varun Gandhi was leading by a margin of over 39,000 votes in Pilibhit over Ganga Charan Rajput of BSP. Congress leader and Union minister Jitin Prasad was leading by over 8,000 votes over Rajesh Kumar Singh of BSP in Dhaurahara.    

In Lucknow, BJP leader Lalji Tondon leading by over 5000 votes over BSP candidate Akhilesh Das Gupta. Congress leader and Union minister Sri Prakash Jaiswal was leading in Kanpur by over 3,000 votes over Satish Mahana of BJP.    

Congress leader and former bureaucrat P L Punia was leading by a margin of 17,000 votes in Barabanki over Ram Sagar of SP. In Etah, an independent candidate supported by SP candidate Kalyan Singh was leading over Devendra Yadav of BSP by 4,000 votes.    

In Meerut, BJP candidate Rajinder Agarwal was ahead of his BSP rival M Nagar.