How BSP candidates played spoilsport for BJP
ON SEVERAL SEATS, BSP CANDIDATES POLLED MORE VOTES THAN THE VICTORY MARGIN OF SAMAJWADI PARTY CANDIDATES
LUCKNOW : The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) played a major role in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s poll rout in Uttar Pradesh. Before the Lok Sabha polls started, a general perception was that a triangular fight in the state will be an advantage to the BJP.
It was expected that both the SP-Congress alliance and the BSP will ultimately fight each other for grabbing the bigger pie out of the non BJP vote bank in the state.
However, as the election progressed, it soon became clear that BSP in its selection of candidates can well act as a doubleedged sword both for the BJP as well as the SP-Cong alliance.
Now with the results being declared, analysis shows that the party that was expected to help the BJP by division of votes actually dented the saffron party’s prospects on many seats.
There is little doubt then that the BSP even in its defeat played a role in scripting BJP’s debacle in the Uttar Pradesh.
The 18th Lok Sabha will have no BSP representation as the party failed to open its account in this general election. The party, however, is not yet done and dusted. It still has a committed vote bank in Uttar Pradesh.
BSP played spoilsport in several constituencies across the state where the winning margin of Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates was less than the votes polled by BSP candidates. In all 80 parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, BSP candidates, including 35 Muslims, were in contest.
They finished third in many seats in the state paving way for the defeat of BJP candidates. Among the most high-profile defeats in the state is that of senior BJP leader Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur to the SP candidate.
However, BSP candidate Udraj Verma bagged 1,63,025 votes there.
Another major loss for the BJP was in Kheri seat where BJP’s Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’ lost by a margin of 34,329 votes. Mishra secured 5,23,036 votes against SP candidate Utkarsh Verma ‘Madhur’ who bagged 5,57,365 votes. Here also, BSP candidate Anshay Kalra bagged 1,10,460 votes.
Another high-profile loss for BJP was in Jat land Muzaffarnagar where Union minister Sanjeev Kumar Balyan lost to SP’s Harendra Singh Malik by 24,672 votes. Balyan got 4,46,049 votes against Malik’s 4,70,721 votes.
In Balyan’s loss, BSP candidate Dara Singh Prajapati, who polled 1,43,707 votes, was the key factor. Another drubbing for the BJP came in Fatehpur where its Union MoS Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti lost to Samajwadi Party’s Naresh Chandra Uttam Patel.
Patel got 5,00,328 votes while Jyoti bagged 4,67,129 votes and lost by a margin of 33,199 votes. Here also, BSP candidate Manish Singh Sachan played the spoilsport by polling 90,970 votes.
In Mohanlalganj Lok Sabha seat, Union MoS Kaushal Kishore lost to SP candidate RK Chaudhary by a margin of 70,292 votes. Here too, BSP candidate Rajesh Kumar got 88,461 votes.
In the long list of seats that BJP lost in Uttar Pradesh due to the BSP factor are Budaun, Aonla, Ballia, Lalganj, Ghosi, Ambedkar Nagar, Basti, Sultanpur, Etah, Etawah, Azamgarh, Banda and Muzaffarnagar.