Uttar Pradesh civic polls 2017: BJP loses in UP CM's Gorakhpur backyard

Lucknow: Even as Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath took a dig at the Congress on Friday for its defeat in the Amethi Nagar Panchayat polls, a BJP candidate lost to an Independent in Gorakhpur's Ward number 68, where the Gorakhnath Peeth is located.

Adityanath heads the Gorakhnath Mutt and has been a Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur in eastern Uttar Pradesh for five consecutive terms since 1998.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 27 wards in Gorakhpur, the Samajwadi Party 18, Bahujan Samaj Party two, Congress two, and independents 18.

Not only did independent Nadira Khatoon defeat BJP`s Maya Tripathi by 483 votes in Ward number 68, its candidate Prashant Kesari lost in Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya`s hometown Sirathu`s panchayat to independent Bhola Yadav.