Lucknow, May 16 (PTI) Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana on Tuesday administered the oath to newly elected Apna Dal (Sonelal) MLAs Shafeek Ahmad Ansari and Rinki Kol.

Mahana administered the oath to Ansari, from the Suar assembly constituency in Rampur, and Kol, from the Chhanbey (SC) assembly constituency in Mirzapur, at his office, an official statement said.

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Deputy Chief Minister Brajesh Pathak, Minister Ashish Patel and BJP MLA from Rampur Akash Saxena were among others present on this occasion.

The BJP-led coalition on Saturday ended Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal (Sonelal) winning the Suar assembly by-election by a margin of 8,724 votes.

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The BJP ally also retained Chhanbey (SC) seat in Mirzapur district by trouncing the SP rival by over 9,500 votes. The bypolls were held on May 10.

Ansari of the Anupriya Patel-headed Apna Dal (Sonelal) secured a little over 50 per cent of the total votes polled in the Suar bypoll, according to the Election Commission data.

Ansari polled 68,630 votes and his nearest rival and SP nominee Anuradha Chauhan bagged 59,906 votes.

More than 1.35 lakh votes were polled in the by-election.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress did not field candidates for the Suar seat.

With these victories, the tally of Apna Dal (Sonelal) in the UP Legislative Assembly rose to 13 MLAs.

In the 403-member assembly, the BJP has 255 MLAs, and its ally Nishad Party has six legislators.

The SP has 109 MLAs while its ally Rashtriya Lok Dal has nine.

The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party has six MLAs, and the Congress and the Jansatta Dal (Loktantrik) have two each. And the BSP has one member in the assembly.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)