The ruling Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party were dealt a blow in Uttar Pradesh’s panchayat elections, with the BJP winning just 8 out of 48 seats in the prime minister’s constituency of Varanasi. Opposition party Bahujan Samaj Party emerged the front-runner when counting was underway on Monday.

The ruling party in the state, Samajwadi Party, said voters have rejected the BJP, with party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhury discounting that SP had suffered major losses. SP lost in Tamausi, which is part of party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s constituency Azamgarh.

Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen won a seat in Maksudia, Azamgarh, while Congress were wiped out even in the constituencies of Rae Bareli and Amethi, which are the party’s strongholds, held by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

In response to the results, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said, “The results indicate that people of the state, especially in villages, have decided to bid goodbye to the corrupt and inefficient Samajwadi Party government.” The BJP swept Uttar Pradesh in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, winning 73 of 80 seats, and has been left red-faced by its huge losses in the panchayat polls. The state is gearing up for assembly polls scheduled for 2017.