BJP will bite dust: RLD's Tabassum Hasan after winning Kairana
What's the story
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Tabassum Hasan, who has taken a massive lead in Kairana by-polls, said the BJP will bite the dust once everyone joins hands.
As per latest data, Hasan left BJP's Mriganka Singh far behind by taking a lead of 43,631 votes in the crucial election.
Eyeing a likely win, Hasan called it 'victory of truth'.
Meet Tabassum
Tabassum Hasan to become UP's lone Muslim Lok Sabha member
The win of Tabassum Hasan will make her the first Muslim MP from Uttar Pradesh (UP) in Lok Sabha since 2014. Interestingly, Muslims constitute 20% of UP's population.
Despite Kairana (a Jat-nominated area) witnessing Muslim-Jat riots five years ago, RLD went for an interesting choice and fielded Hasan.
Interestingly, in 2009, Hasan had won the Lok Sabha elections on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
What she said
People are fed up of BJP's politics: Hasan
Hasan has the support of Congress, SP and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Speaking to media, she said her win testifies people are fed up of BJP's politics as both Hindus and Muslims voted against the saffron party.
Kairana went to polls after BJP MP Hukum Singh passed away in February. His party fielded Singh's daughter Mriganka against Hasan.
The stand
Meanwhile, Hasan remains stern on EVM-free elections
Hasan's opinion on not conducting elections on EVMs remained unchanged. In Kairana, glitches in EVMs on Monday led to re-polling on Wednesday in 73 polling stations.
Speaking on this, she said, "There has been a conspiracy and we do not want any future elections to be conducted on EVM machines."
"The path for the united opposition is clear in 2019," she added.
Road to 2019
Kairana's defeat big shock for BJP
On Monday the Assembly seats that went into by-elections were Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh), Jokihat (Bihar), Tharali (Uttarakhand), Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand), Maheshtala (West Bengal), Ampati (Meghalaya), Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra), Shahkot (Punjab) and Chengannur (Kerala).
The defeat in the high-profile Kairana seat, which BJP swept in 2014, shows the party's path to 2019 will be made difficult by a united opposition.