Samajwadi Party candidate Praveen Nishad today won the by-poll to the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat defeating nearest rival and BJP candidate Upendra Shukla by a margin of 21,881 votes.
The SP candidate was backed by BSP, NISHAD Party and Peace Party.
According to the returning officer, Praveen Nishad polled 4,56,513 votes, while BJP's Upendra Shukla bagged 4,34,632 votes. Sureetha Kareem of the Congress was a distant third with 18,858 votes.
Reacting to his son's victory, president of NISHAD party, Sanjay Nishad, said, it was