BJP candidate from Nighasan, where the Lakhimpur Kheri violence had taken place in October, is leading in the elections, counting of which is underway.

BJP's sitting MLA Shashank Verma had polled 53,785 votes over his nearest rival R S Kushwaha of the Samajwadi Party (SP), who got 33,810 votes till 1.15 pm, according to the Election Commission.

The BJP was leading in all the eight Assembly seats in Lakhimpur Kheri district with the SP appearing in contention only in Kasta, where the margin was less than 2,000 votes.

Lakhimpur Kheri had been one of the key attack points of the Opposition parties such as the SP, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress against the BJP in the run up to the polls.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in a violence that erupted in the Tikunia area of the district on October 3 last year.

Union Minister Ajay Mishra's son Ashish Mishra is one of the key accused in a case related to the killing of farmers. He was granted bail by the state high court last month.

Ajay Mishra, though a central minister, was not part of the BJP's star campaigner list in Uttar Pradesh and was less visible in the party's public reachout programmes in Lakhimpur Kheri, his native district. Amid continued attacks on the BJP over the October violence, Mishra had even skipped rallies of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the district.