UP By Election: The performance of Bahujan Samaj Party during the by-elections held on nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh has been quite shameful. The election results have proved that BSP’s support base is continuously slipping. Along with Uttar Pradesh, the party had also fielded its candidates in the assembly elections of Jharkhand and Maharashtra, but the party could not open its account anywhere. After this setback to BSP, question marks are being raised on the political existence of the party.
Even though BSP could not succeed in winning even a single seat in Uttar Pradesh, BSP definitely spoiled the game of Samajwadi Party on three assembly seats. BSP played a big role in the defeat of Samajwadi Party in Phulpur, Katehari and Majhwan assembly seats of the state.
Mayawati distanced herself from campaigning in by-elections
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati had decided to contest the by-elections after a long time, but she did not come to campaign for the party candidates. He did not hold any election meeting in any area during the by-election. Due to this their candidates appeared to be in trouble. His nephew and party’s national coordinator Akash Anand also kept his distance from the by-election. During the by-elections, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other leaders from BJP made full efforts. On the other hand, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav was also seen active in strengthening the electoral prospects of his party’s candidates, but Mayawati remained completely inactive.
Political experts say that a major reason for the failure of Mayawati’s social engineering is her decreasing activism. For this reason, other parties have broken into the Dalit vote bank and Muslims are also now seen standing with the SP and Congress alliance.
BSP spoiled SP’s game on three seats
In the by-elections of Uttar Pradesh, no candidate of Bahujan Samaj Party could even reach the second position. On two seats, the party’s candidates stood fifth, while on seven seats the party’s candidates had to be content with third place. However, if we look at the voting on nine assembly seats in the state, even though BSP could not win even a single seat, the party definitely spoiled the game of SP candidates on three seats. In fact, BSP candidates have got more votes than the margin of votes BJP has won over SP in Phulpur, Katehari and Majhwan assembly seats.
BSP candidate has got the maximum votes in Katehari. BSP candidate Amit Verma has secured 41,647 votes on this seat while SP has lost against the BJP candidate by 34,514 votes.
Similarly, in Phulpur assembly seat, BSP candidate Jitendra Kumar Singh has secured third place by securing 20,342 votes. BJP has won this seat by 11,305 votes compared to SP.
This time there has been a very tough contest in Majhwan assembly constituency. BSP candidate Deepak has got 34,927 votes on this seat. BJP’s Shuchismita Maurya has won this seat by 4922 votes. In this way, even though BSP could not win even a single seat, the party has definitely spoiled the game of SP on three seats.
BSP vote also decreased in Maharashtra and Jharkhand
However, BSP has suffered a huge setback not only in the by-elections of Uttar Pradesh but also in the assembly elections of Maharashtra and Jharkhand. There has been a decrease in the votes received by BSP in both the states. In Maharashtra, BSP had earlier got more than five lakh votes, but this time the party’s votes have come down to three lakh. Similarly, in Jharkhand, BSP had earlier secured 2.31 lakh votes but this time the party candidate could secure only 1.40 lakh votes.
Mayawati may not have campaigned in Uttar Pradesh but she had reached Maharashtra and Jharkhand to hold election meetings. Despite this, BSP has not been able to get the expected support from the voters. For this reason, the political path of BSP chief Mayawati is being considered very difficult in the coming days.