Gorakhpur (Uttar Pradesh), July 2 (IANS) A local leader of the ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was shot dead by unidentified assailants in this eastern Uttar Pradesh city late Saturday evening, police said.

 
 Badrul Hasan, 54, was killed while he was returning from a party meeting.
 
 “The BSP leader died on the spot. We are yet to ascertain the motive behind the crime and trace the assailants, who were two to three," said a police official in Gorakhpur, some 300 km from Lucknow.
 
 According to police, Hasan was in-charge of a local district-level unit of the BSP.
 
 Meanwhile, agitated over the murder, a large number of BSP activists hit the streets, demanding immediate arrest of the assailants.