In a major blow for Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, the BJP won the bypoll for the Rampur Lok Sabha seat by over 40,000 votes on Sunday and has taken a lead of over 11,000 votes in Azamgarh. Both seats have been strongholds for the Akhilesh Yadav's party. While the Azamgarh seat was vacated following the election of the former Chief Minister to the state assembly, the Rampur seat was similarly vacated by the party's tallest Muslim leader Azam Khan. "The police did not allow proper voting in Rampur. People were beaten up. Had I known there would be so much injustice, we wouldn't have fought the elections," Azam Khan told NDTV. "We had a chance to go to Pakistan. But we didn't and sent our children to join the armed forces. Why don't just take away the rights of Muslims to vote?"