RLD takes unassailable lead in Kairana (Second Lead, correcting headline, intro)

The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) is all set to wrest the Uttar Pradesh's Kairana parliamentary seat from the BJP with its candidate Tabassum Hasan having taken an unassailable lead of over 43,000 votes.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Mriganka Singh, daughter of late sitting MP Hukum Singh, is her nearest rival while other 10 candidates in the fray are set to lose their deposits.

Talking to reporters after leading in all assembly segments, Hasan said the leads have proven beyond doubt that the people of Kairana had voted out negative and divisive politics.

Hasan told IANS that her victory will not only be a defining defeat for the BJP-led negative and communal politics but also expressed hope that it would lead to the coming together and further cementing of Opposition ranks.

She also thanked everybody for putting in their best and pointed out how not only her party, Ajit Singh's RLD, but workers of the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Congress and even the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) worked hard to consolidate voters in her favour.

"In the holy month of Ramadan, all the people worked hard in this scorching heat for a goal, with full confidence and positivity and the results are gladdening," an elated Hasan said.

She also demanded that all future elections be held on ballot paper system and not by electronic voting machines (EVMs), which we said were faulty and open to manipulation.

If the trends continue and the BJP loses the seat, it will be the third parliamentary bypoll loss in the state it had stormed to power in last year with a thumping majority.

--IANS

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